Bank of Nova Scotia Has $238.92 Million Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,316,035 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 595,994 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 1.08% of Nutrien worth $238,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 331.0% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1,437.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Nutrien by 96.7% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $47.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $43.70 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.09). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on NTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.