Nutrien Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 8,740 put options on the company. This is an increase of 98% compared to the average daily volume of 4,425 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Securities lowered their price target on Nutrien from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 50.0% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Nutrien by 33.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $48.49. 772,806 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,929,224. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $44.65 and a twelve month high of $62.53. The company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $10.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. Nutrien’s revenue was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 126.32%.

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.