Nutrien Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:NTR)

Key Points

• Traders purchased 14,187 put options on Nutrien on Friday, about an 88% increase over the stock’s typical daily put volume, indicating elevated bearish positioning or hedging activity.
• Shares fell 6.4% to $69.78 after Nutrien missed quarterly EPS expectations ($0.83 vs. $0.87) and revenue ($5.12B vs. $5.26B), while analysts remain mixed and the MarketBeat consensus rating is a "Hold" with a $79.65 target.
• Large institutions have been increasing exposure—Wellington Management grew its stake by 440.2% to about 16.34M shares and Norges Bank initiated a ~$412.6M position—leaving institutions owning roughly 63.1% of the stock.

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 14,187 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 88% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,544 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Nutrien by 440.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock worth $1,008,713,000 after acquiring an additional 13,313,817 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth $412,635,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Nutrien by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company's stock worth $834,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,651 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Nutrien by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company's stock worth $551,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in Nutrien by 5,891.2% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 1,240,184 shares of the company's stock worth $76,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NTR shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of Nutrien from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Nutrien from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.65.

Nutrien Trading Down 6.4%

Shares of NTR stock traded down $4.75 on Friday, hitting $69.78. 2,336,296 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,615,231. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34. Nutrien has a one year low of $51.98 and a one year high of $85.36. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $74.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 0.69.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released 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). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Nutrien's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien's payout ratio is 47.21%.

Nutrien News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Nutrien this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks raised its Q3 2026 EPS forecast to $0.75 (from $0.72) and boosted Q2 2027 to $1.87 (from $1.84) — modest signs of stronger mid‑cycle performance that could offset some weakness. MarketBeat: NTR analyst notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Mizuho issued a “Hold” on Nutrien, a neutral rating that supports the view investors should wait for clearer fundamentals before repositioning. Nutrien (NTR) Gets a Hold from Mizuho Securities
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks issued multiple downward revisions across near‑term quarters and multi‑year forecasts (examples: Q4 2027 cut from $0.89 to $0.81; Q1 2027 cut from $0.70 to $0.68; Q4 2026 cut from $0.86 to $0.81; Q2 2026 cut from $2.43 to $2.38). Those cuts, plus reductions to FY2026/FY2027/FY2028 estimates (e.g., FY2027 to $4.29 from $4.40; FY2028 to $4.59 from $4.76), lower forward EPS visibility and are likely weighing on the share price. MarketBeat: NTR analyst notes
• Negative Sentiment: Most Zacks notes keep a “Hold” stance while trimming forecasts — investors often interpret across‑the‑board estimate cuts plus neutral ratings as a signal to sell or reduce exposure until clearer demand/commodity trends emerge. MarketBeat: NTR analyst notes

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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