Barings LLC Buys 45,114 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Barings LLC increased its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 55.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 126,808 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,114 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $7,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 133.0% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on NTR shares. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Nutrien from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.71.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $65.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $31.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.60. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $53.03 and a 1 year high of $85.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.18.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 44.81%.

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.