Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Cuts Stake in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• Arrowstreet Capital cut its Nutrien stake by 13.5% in the first quarter, selling 1.84 million shares and ending with about 11.83 million shares worth roughly $892.8 million.
• Nutrien has seen mixed but generally positive analyst sentiment, with several firms raising ratings or price targets; the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $81.89.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.51 versus estimates of $0.48 and revenue of $6.05 billion, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share for a 3.2% annualized yield.

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lessened its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,828,890 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,840,700 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 2.46% of Nutrien worth $892,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Nutrien by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after purchasing an additional 479,834 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Nutrien by 440.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock worth $1,008,713,000 after purchasing an additional 13,313,817 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Nutrien by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company's stock worth $821,326,000 after purchasing an additional 70,068 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company's stock worth $604,745,000 after buying an additional 189,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company's stock worth $551,821,000 after buying an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTR shares. Mizuho decreased their price target on Nutrien from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Bank of America upgraded Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.89.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock opened at $68.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.59 and a 200-day moving average of $70.05. The company has a market cap of $32.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $5.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien's payout ratio is presently 44.81%.

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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