Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Shares Sold by BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas cut its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 24.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,850 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,087 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Nutrien were worth $762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% in the 3rd quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $150,181,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,333 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in Nutrien by 78.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Nutrien by 34.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,066,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,385,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,763 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. HSBC downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.33.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE NTR opened at $46.09 on Thursday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $44.65 and a 1-year high of $60.87. The company has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 144.97%.

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.