Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Shares Down 5.3% – Time to Sell?

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) shares dropped 5.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $49.78 and last traded at $49.72. Approximately 2,433,227 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 2,371,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.93. 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 market cap of $24.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 159.12%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nutrien by 331.0% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Nutrien by 1,437.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Nutrien by 96.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.