Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires New Stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 86,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,166,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Nutrien during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at approximately $72,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on NTR. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a report on Friday, September 20th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Securities dropped their price target on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.95.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR opened at $48.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $44.65 and a 1 year high of $60.87. The stock has a market cap of $23.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.80%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.97%.

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.