Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 171,699 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 70.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 416,127 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 171,699 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $23,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Norges Bank bought a new position in Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth about $409,603,000. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth about $521,017,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,853,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,881,000 after buying an additional 2,322,679 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 18,312.9% during the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,595,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,862,000 after buying an additional 1,586,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,490,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,929,000 after buying an additional 1,547,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $51.81 on Thursday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $47.90 and a 1 year high of $75.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.37.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Berenberg Bank lowered their price target on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. CIBC lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.95.

Nutrien 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.