Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $67.95.

NTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $52.30 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.22. The company has a market cap of $25.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $71.54.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The business’s revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Nutrien during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Nutrien during the third quarter worth about $165,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new position in Nutrien during the third quarter worth about $41,453,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 2.9% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,762 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Group LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 3.4% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 49,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.