Palouse Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 53,810 Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 53,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,586,000. Nutrien makes up about 1.6% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTR. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter worth about $2,639,000. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 564,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,139,000 after purchasing an additional 23,117 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Nutrien by 370.1% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,152,000 after buying an additional 45,695 shares in the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Nutrien by 88.6% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 30,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after buying an additional 14,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas purchased a new position in Nutrien during the first quarter worth $1,146,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. TD Securities lowered their price target on shares of Nutrien from $69.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.67.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:NTR traded down $0.86 on Monday, reaching $46.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,142,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,937,257. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.65 and a 200 day moving average of $51.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $44.65 and a 12-month high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $10.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.