Prudential PLC Increases Stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Prudential PLC grew its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,964 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,778,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $885,009,000 after purchasing an additional 325,210 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,529,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,436,000 after acquiring an additional 77,174 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,615,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,152,000 after acquiring an additional 385,616 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $47.58 on Tuesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a one year low of $43.70 and a one year high of $60.87. The stock has a market cap of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.11.

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

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

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.