Nutrien’s (NTR) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $56.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $55.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. CIBC reissued an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 price target (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.39.

Nutrien Trading Up 2.3 %

Nutrien stock opened at $53.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $26.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.33 and a 200-day moving average of $47.92. 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 has a one year low of $43.69 and a one year high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.939 dividend. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.98%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Silchester International Investors LLP increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,895 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Nutrien by 4.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,232,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,380,000 after purchasing an additional 165,582 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 11.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,830,000 after buying an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter valued at $150,181,000. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.