Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Shares Down 4.5% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Nutrien shares fell 4.5% to about $65.97, below the 200-day moving average of $70.43, on trading volume significantly below average.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 16 analysts rate the stock Buy, four rate it Hold and one rates it Sell. The consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $81.84.
• Nutrien recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, while its $0.55 quarterly dividend provides a 3.3% annualized yield; institutional investors own 63.1% of the stock.

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) dropped 4.5% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $66.05 and last traded at $65.9670. Approximately 947,114 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 3,178,857 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Scotia 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 report on Tuesday, June 30th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Nutrien from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. National Bank Financial set a $76.00 price objective on Nutrien and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Nutrien from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.84.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $31.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.62.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 8.58%.The company's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock worth $1,386,546,000 after acquiring an additional 479,834 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Nutrien by 440.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock worth $1,008,713,000 after purchasing an additional 13,313,817 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 189,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company's stock worth $551,821,000 after buying an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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