Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Given Sector Perform Rating at Scotiabank

Scotiabank reaffirmed their sector perform rating on shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $62.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on NTR. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.44.

Nutrien Price Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $56.89 on Wednesday. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $43.70 and a 52 week high of $60.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.78 billion, a PE ratio of 41.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.79.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.16 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 203.74%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covea Finance raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 55,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,886,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,367,000 after purchasing an additional 144,025 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,480,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,264,000 after purchasing an additional 80,382 shares during the period. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $654,000. Finally, Abel Hall LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.