Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $43.69 and last traded at $44.75, with a volume of 2058005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.18.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC reiterated an “outperformer” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group cut Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Securities lowered 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.95.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.14. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. Nutrien’s revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.39%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.97%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the second quarter worth $72,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Nutrien by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 105,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,350,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 167,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,523,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 29,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after buying an additional 927 shares during the period. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.8% in the second quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,488,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.