First Trust Advisors LP Has $18.24 Million Stake in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its Nutrien stake by 52.2% in the first quarter, owning 241,671 shares valued at approximately $18.24 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 63.1% of Nutrien’s stock.
• Nutrien reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.51 versus the $0.48 consensus and revenue of $6.05 billion, up 18.5% year over year. The company also pays a $0.55 quarterly dividend, yielding about 3.1% annually.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Nutrien receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $81.84, above its recent share price of $70.61.

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 52.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 241,671 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 82,932 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.05% of Nutrien worth $18,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth $1,967,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,359,022 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,257,000 after purchasing an additional 94,510 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock worth $1,386,546,000 after purchasing an additional 479,834 shares in the last quarter. BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Nutrien by 501.5% during the fourth quarter. BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 65,913 shares of the company's stock worth $4,104,000 after buying an additional 54,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,833,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $304,217,000 after buying an additional 309,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NTR stock opened at $70.61 on Thursday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $53.03 and a 1 year high of $85.36. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $66.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 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 (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Nutrien's payout ratio is presently 44.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Nutrien from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Nutrien from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Scotia upgraded Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.84.

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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