Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Buy" Rating

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from a "hold" to a Buy rating in a note to investors on Saturday.
• Other recent upgrades from Jefferies, Wells Fargo and Weiss Ratings helped push the analyst tally to 11 Buys, 7 Holds and 2 Sells, with a consensus target price of $80.00 despite an average rating of "Hold."
• NTR opened at $75.24, trades in a 52‑week range of $53.03–$85.36 with a $36.18B market cap and 16.15 P/E, and its last quarter showed missed estimates—$0.83 EPS and $5.12B revenue.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on NTR. Mizuho lifted their target price on Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nutrien from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Nutrien from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut Nutrien from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $80.00.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock opened at $75.24 on Friday. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $53.03 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $74.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.52. 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 has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 0.64.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Nutrien's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Nutrien will post 4.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in Nutrien by 310.7% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Nutrien in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Sfam LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its position in Nutrien by 133.0% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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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