Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Hits New 12-Month High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Nutrien hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $78.08 and last at $77.65 on robust volume.
• Analysts are mixed — the stock's average rating is a Hold with a consensus price target of $72.82, based on 8 Buys, 11 Holds and 1 Sell despite some recent upgrades and downgrades.
• The latest quarter missed estimates (EPS $0.83 vs. $0.87; revenue $5.12B vs. $5.26B) though revenue rose 5.1% YoY, and Nutrien declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 (annualized $2.20, ~2.9% yield).

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $78.08 and last traded at $77.6470, with a volume of 3310615 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.21.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTR shares. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Nutrien from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nutrien from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $68.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.91. The stock has a market cap of $36.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a positive change from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after purchasing an additional 479,834 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 440.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock worth $1,008,713,000 after acquiring an additional 13,313,817 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company's stock worth $834,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,651 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company's stock worth $821,326,000 after acquiring an additional 70,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company's stock valued at $604,745,000 after acquiring an additional 189,683 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

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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