Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Shares Bought by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,823 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $2,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTR. Covea Finance lifted its stake in Nutrien by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 55,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Nutrien by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,396,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,200,000 after acquiring an additional 151,596 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Nutrien by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,886,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,367,000 after purchasing an additional 144,025 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,480,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,264,000 after purchasing an additional 80,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $654,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on NTR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, February 24th. CIBC upped their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $46.95 on Wednesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $43.70 and a 12-month high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.09 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 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.