ARGA Investment Management LP Decreases Stake in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• ARGA Investment Management LP slashed its Nutrien stake by 99.2% in the first quarter, selling more than 5.26 million shares and leaving it with 42,699 shares worth about $3.22 million.
• Nutrien reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings of $0.51 per share on revenue of $6.05 billion, topping analyst estimates and marking 18.5% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 3.4%, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Moderate Buy with an average price target of $80.94.

ARGA Investment Management LP cut its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 99.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,699 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,265,902 shares during the quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP's holdings in Nutrien were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 310.7% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nutrien during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Sfam LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Nutrien by 133.0% in the fourth 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. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Nutrien by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 704 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $65.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.62. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $53.03 and a 12-month high of $85.36. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $67.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.69.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Nutrien's payout ratio is 44.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NTR shares. Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 price target on Nutrien and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Nutrien from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.94.

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.

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