Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 53,634 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,335 shares during the quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $2,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NTR. Silchester International Investors LLP lifted its stake in Nutrien by 164.4% in the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after buying 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 third quarter worth approximately $150,181,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised 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 worth $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,830,000 after acquiring an additional 447,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 34.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,287,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,848,000 after buying an additional 327,799 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on NTR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $56.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.94.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NTR opened at $53.04 on Thursday. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $43.69 and a twelve month high of $60.87. 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 stock has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.02.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.08%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

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.