Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo upgraded Nutrien from "equal weight" to "overweight" and raised its price target to $100 (from $77), implying roughly a 20.3% upside from the current share price.
• Other brokers (RBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Weiss) have also raised targets or upgraded the stock, but the MarketBeat consensus remains an average "Hold" with an average price target of $75.47, indicating mixed analyst views.
• Nutrien shares traded at about $83.10 (down ~1%) with a market cap near $39.98B; the company missed quarterly estimates (EPS $0.83 vs $0.87, revenue $5.12B vs $5.26B) and institutional investors own roughly 63% of the stock.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $100.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $77.00. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.34% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Nutrien from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $75.47.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Nutrien stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $83.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,287,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,448,618. Nutrien has a 1-year low of $45.78 and a 1-year high of $85.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.44.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 440.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 13,313,817 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nutrien in the second quarter worth $395,842,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Nutrien by 48.5% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company's stock worth $696,058,000 after buying an additional 3,900,755 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at about $150,416,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Nutrien by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $551,821,000 after buying an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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