Sphera Funds Management LTD. Buys 15,164 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Sphera Funds Management LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 37.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 55,894 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,164 shares during the quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $2,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTR. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 189,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,485,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 344.5% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 38,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after buying an additional 29,484 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,724,000. Finally, Uncommon Cents Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 11,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $57.38 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.20. The company has a market capitalization of $28.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $43.70 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 203.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Nutrien from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded Nutrien to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.44.

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.