Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,608,138 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230,990 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $266,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviva PLC increased its position in Nutrien by 52.6% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 131,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,689,000 after acquiring an additional 45,242 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Nutrien by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 29,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Nutrien by 73.3% in the 1st quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC now owns 149,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,014,000 after purchasing an additional 63,165 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Nutrien by 23.4% in the first quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 71,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,314,000 after purchasing an additional 13,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.77% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 1.4 %

NTR traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.19. The stock had a trading volume of 114,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,360,538. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.26. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $52.23 and a twelve month high of $95.72. The company has a market capitalization of $31.74 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.92.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $2.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.83 by ($0.30). Nutrien had a net margin of 11.05% and a return on equity of 16.41%. The business had revenue of $11.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 29.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. HSBC decreased their price target on Nutrien from $81.00 to $72.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Barclays downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, August 14th. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $62.00 to $82.00 in a report on Monday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.84.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate segments. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products. The Nitrogen segment offers ammonia, urea, urea ammonium nitrate, industrial grade ammonium nitrate, and ammonium sulfate.