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

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $67.95.

A number of research firms recently commented on NTR. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, CIBC dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE NTR opened at $52.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.22. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $47.90 and a 12 month high of $71.54. The company has a market capitalization of $25.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 58.0% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 92,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,767 shares during the last quarter. Paradiem LLC raised its stake in Nutrien by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 9,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at $429,000. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at $477,000. Finally, QV Investors Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 488,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,575,000 after purchasing an additional 5,023 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.