Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Nutrien “Moderate Buy,” with 14 buy, six hold and one sell recommendation; the average 1-year price target is $81.89, above the stock’s $68.18 opening price.
• Nutrien exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.51 EPS versus the $0.48 consensus and $6.05 billion in revenue versus $5.30 billion expected. Revenue increased 18.5% year over year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.55, equivalent to $2.20 annually and a 3.2% yield; institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.1% of its shares.

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-one research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.8889.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank raised Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. National Bank Financial set a $76.00 target price on Nutrien and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in Nutrien by 1,014.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 479 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Sfam LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:NTR opened at $68.18 on Monday. The company's 50 day moving average is $66.52 and its 200-day moving average is $70.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $53.03 and a 12 month high of $85.36. The firm has a market cap of $32.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.62.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. Nutrien's revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.81%.

About Nutrien

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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