Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Sells 32,507 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its stake in Nutrien Ltd. by 9%, selling 32,507 shares, leaving them with 327,983 shares valued at approximately $16.3 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Nutrien, with one upgrading to a "strong-buy" while others set varying price targets, resulting in an overall consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Nutrien recently reported a quarterly earnings surpassing estimates with $2.65 EPS, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.545 per share, yielding about 3.8% annually.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 327,983 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,507 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. owned 0.07% of Nutrien worth $16,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTR. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 192.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 411,056 shares of the company's stock worth $18,395,000 after purchasing an additional 854,543 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 52,090 shares of the company's stock worth $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 297,113 shares of the company's stock worth $13,254,000 after purchasing an additional 21,451 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,907,301 shares of the company's stock worth $85,344,000 after purchasing an additional 16,948 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,124,178 shares of the company's stock worth $50,307,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE NTR traded up $0.0350 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.7350. 1,180,534 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,012,656. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $59.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.58. The company has a market cap of $27.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $43.69 and a 1-year high of $65.08.

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 company had revenue of $10.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.40 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 5.25%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 issued a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 29th. Nutrien's payout ratio is presently 78.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $66.00 target price (up from $63.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Nutrien from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.65.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.