Brokerages Set Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Target Price at $77.11

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.3333.

NTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on Nutrien from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Zacks Research lowered Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the third quarter valued at $37,000. Sfam LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Eastern Bank grew its stake in Nutrien by 133.0% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.8%

NTR stock opened at $75.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.70. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $45.78 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.95.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

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.