Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 360,490 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,038 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $16,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 331.0% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Nutrien by 1,437.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 96.7% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTR shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.13.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR opened at $52.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $43.70 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.61 billion, a PE ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.76.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.