Neuberger Berman Group LLC Buys 292,100 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 126.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 523,949 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 292,100 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $30,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NTR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 65.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 9,950 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $516,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 142.1% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE:NTR opened at $76.26 on Friday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $45.78 and a 52 week high of $78.00. The stock has a market cap of $36.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.