Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Invests $150.18 Million in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,125,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,181,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.63% of Nutrien at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,333 shares in the last quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the 3rd quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,437,000 after acquiring an additional 6,642,075 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $458,522,000 after acquiring an additional 167,312 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,970,000 after acquiring an additional 446,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,985,000 after acquiring an additional 399,348 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $45.88 on Wednesday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $44.65 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.99 and a 200-day moving average of $49.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.19%. 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 is 144.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NTR shares. UBS Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. HSBC downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.33.

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.