The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases Shares of 5,966,277 Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,966,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $375,178,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 1.25% of Nutrien at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Nutrien by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nutrien by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in Nutrien by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Gould Asset Management LLC CA boosted its position in Nutrien by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA now owns 3,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 983 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NTR stock opened at $74.28 on Tuesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $53.03 and a 1 year high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.58 and its 200-day moving average is $70.46. The stock has a market cap of $35.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.61.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.70 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $10.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.44 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 29th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NTR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Nutrien from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.58.

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.