Bank of Nova Scotia Purchases 595,994 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,316,035 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 595,994 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $238,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Nutrien by 331.0% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Nutrien by 1,437.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 96.7% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. CIBC increased their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR opened at $47.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.11. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $43.70 and a 1 year high of $60.87. The company has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 34.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.09 billion. Research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 159.12%.

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.