Nutrien Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NTR)

Key Points

• Investors bought an unusually large number of options — 17,115 call options, about a 183% increase over the typical daily call volume — signaling elevated bullish interest in NTR.
• Nutrien's stock jumped to $84.61 on heavy trading (6.32M shares vs. average 3.38M), trading near its 12‑month high of $85.35 while the average analyst price target of $74.12 remains well below the current price.
• The company missed quarterly estimates (EPS $0.83 vs. $0.87 consensus; revenue also below expectations) and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.55 (annualized $2.20, yield 2.6%; ex-dividend date Mar 31).

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 17,115 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 183% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,044 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Securities raised their price target on Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $74.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the company's stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. lifted its position in Nutrien by 2.2% in the third quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 7,642 shares of the company's stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Nutrien by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 983 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 30,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE:NTR traded up $5.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $84.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,315,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,375,752. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $40.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 0.70. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $45.78 and a twelve month high of $85.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.29.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Nutrien's payout ratio is currently 47.21%.

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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