Louisbourg Investments Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• Louisbourg Investments trimmed its stake in Nutrien by 23.1%, selling 25,310 shares and leaving it with 84,193 shares valued at about $5.20 million at quarter-end.
• Nutrien's latest quarter missed estimates, reporting $0.83 EPS vs. $0.87 expected and $5.12 billion in revenue versus $5.26 billion consensus, although revenue was up 5.1% year-over-year.
• Several analysts have upgraded and raised targets for Nutrien (e.g., Jefferies to Buy/$96, Wells Fargo to Overweight/$100), but the consensus rating remains a Hold with a $77.33 target; the company pays a $0.55 quarterly dividend (≈2.9% yield).

Louisbourg Investments Inc. cut its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,193 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,310 shares during the period. Louisbourg Investments Inc.'s holdings in Nutrien were worth $5,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Eastern Bank boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 133.0% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 42.4% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE NTR opened at $75.41 on Friday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $45.78 and a 12 month high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $36.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.18 and a beta of 0.69. The company's fifty day moving average price is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.41.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.Nutrien's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Nutrien from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.33.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NTR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.