Pflug Koory LLC Trims Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Pflug Koory LLC lowered its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,313 shares of the company’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. Pflug Koory LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 11,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 14,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Nutrien by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NTR. UBS Group downgraded shares of 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. CIBC restated an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.39.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $52.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $43.69 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.11%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 144.97%.

Nutrien 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.