Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest: As of March 31 short interest jumped 77.6% to 8,340,769 shares (about 1.8% of shares), with a short-interest ratio of 1.8 days.
• Analyst views: Analysts' moves were mixed—RBC raised its target to $85 (outperform) while others cut ratings—leaving a consensus average rating of Hold and an average price target of $78.50.
• Earnings & dividend: Nutrien missed the quarter with EPS $0.83 vs. $0.87 expected and revenue below estimates, and it pays a quarterly dividend of $0.55 (annualized $2.20) for about a 3.0% yield (ex-dividend Mar 31).

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 8,340,769 shares, an increase of 77.6% from the March 15th total of 4,695,577 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,743,559 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on NTR shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Nutrien from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and increased their price target for the company from $63.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the company's stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. boosted its stake in Nutrien by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 7,642 shares of the company's stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nutrien by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 983 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Nutrien by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 30,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:NTR opened at $73.83 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $74.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.28. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $48.63 and a 12 month high of $85.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $35.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.84 and a beta of 0.69.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien's payout ratio is 47.21%.

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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