Scotiabank Issues Optimistic Forecast for Nutrien Earnings

Key Points

• Scotiabank raised its FY2026 EPS estimate for Nutrien to $5.63 (from $4.46) while maintaining a "Sector Perform" rating and a $75 price target, versus a consensus full-year estimate of $4.78.
• Brokerage sentiment is mixed but leaning positive in places: Morgan Stanley and Jefferies recently boosted targets (to $93 and $96) and ratings, yet the MarketBeat consensus remains a "Hold" with a $80.06 target.
• Nutrien recently missed the latest quarterly EPS estimate ($0.83 vs. $0.87) despite 5.1% revenue growth to $5.12B, has a market cap of about $34.8B, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.55 ($2.20 annual, ~3.0% yield).

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) - Scotiabank raised their FY2026 EPS estimates for Nutrien in a report issued on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank analyst B. Isaacson now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $5.63 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $4.46. Scotiabank has a "Sector Perform" rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Nutrien's current full-year earnings is $4.78 per share.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. Nutrien's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on NTR. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $80.06.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $72.33 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $74.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.31. Nutrien has a 12-month low of $53.03 and a 12-month high of $85.36. 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 company has a market capitalization of $34.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.69.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after purchasing an additional 479,834 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 440.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,008,713,000 after purchasing an additional 13,313,817 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Nutrien by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company's stock worth $834,962,000 after buying an additional 2,276,651 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Nutrien by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company's stock worth $821,326,000 after buying an additional 70,068 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Nutrien by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company's stock worth $604,745,000 after buying an additional 189,683 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is a boost from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Nutrien's payout ratio is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.