Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 309,025 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management increased its Nutrien stake by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, adding 309,025 shares and bringing its total holding to 4.83 million shares worth about $304.2 million.
• Nutrien reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.51 beating estimates and revenue of $6.05 billion, up 18.5% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, implying an annualized payout of $2.20 and a dividend yield of about 3.2%.

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,833,284 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 309,025 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.00% of Nutrien worth $304,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock worth $1,386,546,000 after acquiring an additional 479,834 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company's stock worth $834,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,651 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 70,068 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,368,861 shares of the company's stock worth $432,838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,539,645 shares of the company's stock worth $325,325,000 after acquiring an additional 95,274 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $69.53 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.63. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $53.03 and a 1 year high of $85.36. The company has a market capitalization of $33.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.45 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial raised Nutrien from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut their price objective on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperformer" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Nutrien from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Eleven 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. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.75.

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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