Altshuler Shaham Ltd Purchases 446,340 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 8.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 446,340 shares during the period. Nutrien makes up approximately 10.3% of Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $304,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the second quarter valued at $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in Nutrien by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the second quarter worth $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.8 %

NTR stock opened at $47.06 on Monday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $44.65 and a 12 month high of $63.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.86.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.15. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 2.97%. The business had revenue of $10.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.39.

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.