Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 8,340,769 shares, an increase of 77.6% from the March 15th total of 4,695,577 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 4,743,559 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $73.65 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $35.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.50. Nutrien has a 12-month low of $51.98 and a 12-month high of $85.36.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 23.6% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 79,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,691,000 after buying an additional 15,230 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 1.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,854,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,901,000 after buying an additional 25,588 shares during the last quarter. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,967,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 190.3% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 116,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,829,000 after buying an additional 76,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 37.8% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 220,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,958,000 after buying an additional 60,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.65.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. is a global fertilizer and agricultural-services company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is publicly traded and operates across the farm input value chain, combining upstream fertilizer production with a broad retail and services platform aimed at supporting crop production worldwide. Nutrien’s business model integrates the manufacture and distribution of crop nutrients with on-the-ground agronomic support for growers and agricultural businesses.

Nutrien produces and supplies the three primary fertilizer nutrients—potash, nitrogen and phosphate—through its wholesale operations, and markets a wide range of crop inputs including seeds and crop protection products.