Advocate Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Advocate Group LLC lowered its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,755 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,587 shares during the quarter. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $5,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Silchester International Investors LLP grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Nutrien by 4.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,232,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,380,000 after buying an additional 165,582 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Nutrien by 11.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,830,000 after buying an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Nutrien during the third quarter worth about $150,181,000. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its stake in Nutrien by 78.8% during the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $52.79 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.99. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $43.69 and a 12 month high of $60.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.939 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.11%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $56.00 target price (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC reissued an “outperformer” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.39.

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.