Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 12,272 call options on the company. This is an increase of 180% compared to the average volume of 4,377 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. HSBC downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut their price target on Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nutrien by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,781,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,020,012,000 after acquiring an additional 570,912 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Nutrien by 15.5% in 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. Silchester International Investors LLP increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,571,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $519,816,000 after buying an additional 50,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.9% in the second 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 period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.3 %

Nutrien stock opened at $50.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $44.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.66. The firm has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $10.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 2.97%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.