Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Nutrien Ltd. by 30.9% during the first quarter, ending with 3,672,389 shares valued at approximately $182.3 million.
• Several analysts have revised their price targets for Nutrien, with Bank of America setting it at $63.00, while Morgan Stanley increased their target to $65.00, maintaining an "equal weight" rating.
• Nutrien's recent earnings results showed a earnings per share of $0.11, missing estimates, and a 5.4% decrease in revenue year-over-year, prompting cautious outlooks from analysts.

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 30.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,672,389 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,643,646 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.75% of Nutrien worth $182,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 94.8% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 715 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Nutrien by 117.1% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 938 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Nutrien by 4,866.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter valued at about $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.2%

Nutrien stock traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.62. 1,521,922 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,734,672. The company has a market cap of $28.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $43.69 and a twelve month high of $65.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.10 and a 200-day moving average of $55.21.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 2.05%. Nutrien's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 18th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Nutrien's payout ratio is presently 203.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTR has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Nutrien to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $66.00 price target (up previously from $63.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.39.

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.