Traders Buy Large Volume of Nutrien Put Options (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 20,710 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 357% compared to the average volume of 4,536 put options.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR opened at $44.58 on Friday. Nutrien has a 1-year low of $43.87 and a 1-year high of $60.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.59. The company has a market capitalization of $21.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.43%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after acquiring an additional 6,642,075 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $150,181,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,794,333 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Nutrien by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,066,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,763 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.95.

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.