52,243 Shares in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR Acquired by Artemis Investment Management LLP

Key Points

• Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake of 52,243 shares in Nutrien in Q4 (about $3.22M), joining other institutional buyers as institutions now own roughly 63.1% of the stock.
• Several analysts have raised targets recently (e.g., RBC to $85, Wells Fargo to $100), but the consensus rating remains Hold with an average price target of $80.00.
• Nutrien raised its quarterly dividend to $0.55 (paid Apr 16), implying a $2.20 annualized payout and a 2.9% yield, even as the most recent quarter saw EPS of $0.83 miss estimates and revenue come in slightly below expectations.

Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 52,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,224,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Eastern Bank increased its position in Nutrien by 133.0% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 42.4% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the first quarter worth about $54,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Nutrien from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. TD Securities raised their target price on Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.00.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $75.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $74.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.56. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $53.03 and a 12 month high of $85.36.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.21%.

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.

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