Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $44.94 Million Stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 21.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 882,591 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 158,324 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.18% of Nutrien worth $44,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,781,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,012,000 after acquiring an additional 570,912 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,333 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,571,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $519,816,000 after purchasing an additional 50,369 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,522,000 after buying an additional 167,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,970,000 after buying an additional 446,340 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $49.94 on Friday. 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 Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $44.65 and a fifty-two week high of $62.53. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.20, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.58.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The firm had revenue of $10.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. 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 paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 126.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on NTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Hsbc Global Res cut Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

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.