Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.44.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NTR shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Nutrien to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth approximately $241,958,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 159.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,435,627 shares of the company's stock worth $242,976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,341,169 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 48.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Nutrien by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,786,309 shares of the company's stock worth $436,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284,181 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.3%

NTR stock traded down $0.78 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,773,808 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,149,087. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $28.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.79. Nutrien has a one year low of $43.70 and a one year high of $60.50. The company's 50 day moving average is $53.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.83.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.24). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 203.74%.

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.