Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Position Reduced by Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 50.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 834 shares of the company’s stock after selling 864 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Nutrien by 79.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,490,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,929,000 after buying an additional 1,547,030 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,370,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $323,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 11,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 55.2% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $52.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.31. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $47.90 and a 12-month high of $72.96.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Nutrien from $77.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Piper Sandler downgraded Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.95.

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.