Alberta Investment Management Corp Takes $42.42 Million Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 687,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,418,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 23.6% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 79,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,691,000 after purchasing an additional 15,230 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Nutrien by 1.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,854,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,901,000 after purchasing an additional 25,588 shares in the last quarter. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth $1,967,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its position in Nutrien by 190.3% during the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 116,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,829,000 after purchasing an additional 76,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Nutrien by 57.3% during the third quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,367,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,050,000 after purchasing an additional 862,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $66.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $53.03 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.32. The company has a market capitalization of $31.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.60.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 8.58%.The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on NTR. Barclays boosted their target price on Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Nutrien from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their target price on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperformer” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 target price on Nutrien and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Eleven 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.71.

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.