Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.50.

Several equities analysts recently commented on NTR shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,639,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,210,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,025,790,000 after purchasing an additional 158,161 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Nutrien by 370.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,152,000 after purchasing an additional 45,695 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth $1,146,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 841,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,620,000 after buying an additional 296,122 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NTR stock opened at $48.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.75. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $44.65 and a twelve month high of $63.60.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $10.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. Nutrien’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.53 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.32%.

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.