ARGA Investment Management LP Sells 638,771 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

ARGA Investment Management LP lowered its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,953,610 shares of the company’s stock after selling 638,771 shares during the quarter. Nutrien comprises about 9.3% of ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $349,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 2,215.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 148,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,738,000 after purchasing an additional 142,360 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 2,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Nutrien in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC grew its position in Nutrien by 36.4% in the third quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,613,000 after acquiring an additional 80,000 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Nutrien by 7.9% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.71.

Nutrien Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $70.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 0.72. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $45.78 and a 1 year high of $70.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.21.

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

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.76%.

About Nutrien

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.