Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Nutrien Put Options (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 10,615 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 101% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,272 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.17.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 656 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 42.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE NTR opened at $59.04 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Nutrien has a 1 year low of $45.78 and a 1 year high of $65.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 0.72.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a net margin of 6.79% and a return on equity of 7.54%. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.