Townsend & Associates Inc Raises Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Townsend & Associates Inc boosted its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 58.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 259,851 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,909 shares during the quarter. Nutrien makes up 1.8% of Townsend & Associates Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $14,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings 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 valued at $394,047,000 after purchasing an additional 154,159 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its stake in Nutrien by 64.6% in the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 75,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,690,000 after buying an additional 29,819 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the fourth quarter worth about $3,433,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,262,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,062,000 after acquiring an additional 48,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1.5% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,708,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $908,374,000 after acquiring an additional 214,299 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $77.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James lowered Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. TD Securities dropped their price target on Nutrien from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR stock traded up $2.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $57.70. 2,153,215 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,959,847. 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 firm has a market cap of $28.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.89. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $69.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.62.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) 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). The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The business’s revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s 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.