QV Investors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

QV Investors Inc. lifted its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 30.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 483,671 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 113,016 shares during the quarter. Nutrien comprises approximately 2.5% of QV Investors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. QV Investors Inc. owned 0.10% of Nutrien worth $27,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd bought a new position in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in Nutrien by 55.2% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 301 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 904.0% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 753 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $77.00 to $69.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Nutrien from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $67.95.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock traded up $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,032,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,120. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $75.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $28.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.89. The company's fifty day moving average is $52.33 and its 200-day moving average is $54.79.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The business had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is 85.38%.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.