Nutrien Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 8,937 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,344 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTR. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. HSBC reduced their price target on Nutrien from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Nutrien from $77.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,210,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,025,790,000 after purchasing an additional 158,161 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,708,135 shares of the company's stock worth $908,374,000 after purchasing an additional 214,299 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Nutrien by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,331,450 shares of the company's stock valued at $751,381,000 after buying an additional 239,578 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 12,017,181 shares of the company's stock worth $676,928,000 after buying an additional 1,960,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nutrien by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,520,903 shares of the company's stock worth $536,313,000 after buying an additional 258,244 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,748,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,958,298. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.89. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $47.90 and a 52-week high of $69.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a positive change from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.