BNP Paribas Upgrades Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) to Strong-Buy

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

NTR has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.00.

Nutrien Stock Up 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $51.05 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $43.70 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.13.

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

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 159.12%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 331.0% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1,437.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 96.7% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nutrien

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.