Nutrien Ltd. $NTR Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia cut its Nutrien stake by 15.3% in the first quarter, selling 305,015 shares and leaving it with 1.69 million shares valued at about $127.5 million.
• Institutional activity was mixed, with several firms adding to positions, while overall institutional and hedge fund ownership of Nutrien stands at 63.10%.
• Nutrien reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $0.51 EPS on $6.05 billion in revenue, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share for a 3.2% yield.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 15.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,689,740 shares of the company's stock after selling 305,015 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.35% of Nutrien worth $127,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dickmeyer Boyce Financial Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at $255,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 84.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 547,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,340,000 after acquiring an additional 251,252 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Nutrien by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,037 shares of the company's stock worth $4,824,000 after purchasing an additional 21,398 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Nutrien by 52.2% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 241,671 shares of the company's stock worth $18,236,000 after purchasing an additional 82,932 shares during the period. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at $9,455,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on NTR shares. Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 price objective on Nutrien and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Nutrien from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Scotia upgraded Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued 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 an average price target of $81.89.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $68.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.62. The business's fifty day moving average price is $66.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.05. 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 Ltd. has a 12-month low of $53.03 and a 12-month high of $85.36.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.11 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.81%.

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.

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