Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Trading Down 5.3% – What’s Next?

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)’s stock price traded down 5.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $49.78 and last traded at $49.72. 2,433,227 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 2,371,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.53.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NTR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Nutrien in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.13.

Nutrien Price Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.89. 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 cap of $24.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 159.12%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth $241,958,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Nutrien by 159.5% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,435,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,976,000 after purchasing an additional 3,341,169 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter valued at about $150,181,000. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,396,000 after buying an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. Finally, Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock worth $523,268,000 after buying an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.