Ion Asset Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• Ion Asset Management Ltd. has acquired 14,150 shares of Nutrien Ltd. valued at approximately $703,000, adding to their portfolio in the first quarter.
• Several other hedge funds have increased their stakes in Nutrien, with Advisors Asset Management Inc. growing its holdings by 23.8% during the same period.
• Nutrien has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.545 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 3.8%, to be paid on October 17th.

Ion Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 94.8% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 715 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 117.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 938 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 1,074.7% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,022 shares of the company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 935 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 4,866.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NTR shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Nutrien from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. National Bank Financial initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They set a "sector perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Nutrien from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.39.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE NTR traded up $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $57.07. 427,215 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,266,741. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $58.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.74 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.77. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $43.69 and a 1-year high of $65.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $10.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.40 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 5.25%.The company's revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 29th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.14%.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.