Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fifteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.00.

NTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $47.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $43.70 and a 12 month high of $60.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.11.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 159.12%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at about $241,958,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Nutrien by 159.5% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,435,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,976,000 after buying an additional 3,341,169 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in Nutrien by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,396,000 after buying an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its stake in Nutrien by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,268,000 after buying an additional 1,009,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 192.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 411,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,395,000 after buying an additional 854,543 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.