Capital Investment Counsel Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,856 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 240 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTR. Townsend & Associates Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc now owns 163,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,125,000 after purchasing an additional 35,690 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,361,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,047,000 after purchasing an additional 154,159 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 75,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,690,000 after purchasing an additional 29,819 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth $3,433,000. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,262,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,062,000 after purchasing an additional 48,230 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE NTR traded up $1.33 during trading on Monday, reaching $53.88. 273,586 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,965,987. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $70.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $26.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.98.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.54 dividend. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 85.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler cut Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James lowered Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Securities cut their price objective on Nutrien from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.25.

Nutrien 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.