The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a sell rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.13.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NTR opened at $50.82 on Thursday. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $43.70 and a twelve month high of $60.87. The stock has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a PE ratio of 37.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. 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 price is $51.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.68.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 159.12%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at $241,958,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 159.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,435,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,341,169 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the third quarter valued at about $150,181,000. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 78.8% in the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.