Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Stock Price Down 3.9% – Here’s Why

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)’s share price traded down 3.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $78.61 and last traded at $79.66. 919,432 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 3,467,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.47.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $70.20 and its 200-day moving average is $62.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 0.70.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $5.12 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. 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 2.8%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 440.2% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth $395,842,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Nutrien by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $696,058,000 after buying an additional 3,900,755 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the second quarter valued at about $150,416,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 8,928,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $551,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,559,673 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.