121,771 Shares in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR Bought by Westend Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Westend Capital Management LLC purchased 121,771 shares of Nutrien Ltd., valued at approximately $7.1 million, making it the firm's 22nd largest holding.
• Several institutional investors, including Harbour Investments Inc. and GAMMA Investing LLC, significantly increased their stakes in Nutrien during the first quarter of the year.
• Nutrien recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.545 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.9%, with a payout date set for October 17th.

Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 121,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,092,000. Nutrien comprises about 2.2% of Westend Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nutrien by 7.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,191,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,051,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,503 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Nutrien by 17.1% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,786,309 shares of the company's stock valued at $436,137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284,181 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Nutrien by 0.7% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,855,609 shares of the company's stock valued at $389,860,000 after acquiring an additional 54,918 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Nutrien by 6.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,568,805 shares of the company's stock valued at $375,943,000 after acquiring an additional 463,748 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Nutrien by 48.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,992,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,319,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291,518 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.7%

NTR traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $57.03. The stock had a trading volume of 2,227,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,556,625. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.77. 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 firm's fifty day simple moving average is $57.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.59. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $43.69 and a 52 week high of $65.08.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is 78.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Nutrien from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. National Bank Financial initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a "sector perform" rating on the stock. Scotiabank lowered 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. Zacks Research lowered Nutrien from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Nutrien from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.39.

Nutrien 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.