Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $5.55 Million Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 39.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 115,430 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,328 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $5,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,794,333 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP lifted its position 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 valued at $513,437,000 after acquiring an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Nutrien by 1.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,522,000 after purchasing an additional 167,312 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its position in Nutrien by 8.1% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,985,000 after acquiring an additional 399,348 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.95.

Nutrien Stock Up 1.3 %

Nutrien stock opened at $44.75 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $46.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.07. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $43.69 and a twelve month high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.39%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.97%.

Nutrien 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.