Brokerages Set Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Price Target at $60.06

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.06.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,333 shares during the last quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its stake in Nutrien by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Nutrien by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,522,000 after purchasing an additional 167,312 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Nutrien by 8.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,970,000 after purchasing an additional 446,340 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Nutrien by 8.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,985,000 after purchasing an additional 399,348 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $47.93 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.56. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $44.65 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 144.97%.

Nutrien Company Profile

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.