Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Raised to "Buy" at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America upgraded Nutrien from "neutral" to "buy" with an $82 price target, implying roughly a 10.6% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst views are mixed: 11 Buys, 7 Holds and 2 Sells, resulting in an overall average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.12.
• Key fundamentals: shares opened at $74.12 with a $35.64B market cap and a 15.9 P/E; latest quarter missed EPS ($0.83 vs. $0.87) and revenue ($5.12B vs. $5.26B) despite 5.1% YoY revenue growth, and institutional investors own about 63% of the stock.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Thursday. The firm currently has a $82.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America's price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.63% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on NTR. Wall Street Zen downgraded Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Nutrien from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Nutrien from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.12.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NTR opened at $74.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 0.69. Nutrien has a one year low of $53.03 and a one year high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.45.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business 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 company posted $0.31 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 4.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Sfam LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its position in Nutrien by 133.0% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.