Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 123,193 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 81.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,374 shares of the company’s stock after selling 123,193 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Nutrien by 2.2% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 37,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 56.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 2nd quarter valued at $14,305,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NTR shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $56.00 target price (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.39.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $52.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $43.69 and a 1 year high of $60.87. The company has a market cap of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.96.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.11%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.