Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Short Interest Up 92.8% in June

Key Points

• Short interest in Nutrien surged 92.8% in June, reaching 10.24 million shares, or about 2.2% of the float. The stock’s days-to-cover ratio stands at 2.9 days.
• Recent earnings beat expectations as Nutrien posted $0.51 EPS versus the $0.48 consensus and generated $6.05 billion in revenue, up 18.5% year over year.
• Nutrien maintained a shareholder return with a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 3.3% and a payout ratio of 44.81%.

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 10,241,667 shares, an increase of 92.8% from the June 15th total of 5,310,769 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,476,553 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR traded down $1.22 on Thursday, reaching $67.11. 1,970,467 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,284,623. The company's 50-day moving average price is $66.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.62. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $53.03 and a fifty-two week high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. Nutrien's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Nutrien's payout ratio is 44.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Scotia upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. National Bank Financial set a $76.00 price objective on Nutrien and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank raised shares of Nutrien from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped their target price on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after buying an additional 479,834 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Nutrien by 440.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,008,713,000 after buying an additional 13,313,817 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $821,326,000 after purchasing an additional 70,068 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Nutrien by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $604,745,000 after purchasing an additional 189,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Nutrien by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company's stock worth $551,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company's stock.

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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