Toronto Dominion Bank Raises Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 11.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $202,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Nutrien in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Andra AP fonden purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NTR. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC reissued an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities cut their price target on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.89.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $48.55 on Wednesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $44.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.26. 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 $23.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Nutrien’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors 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 7.74%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.