The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,551,512 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,228,417 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 1.12% of Nutrien worth $266,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Nutrien by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 317,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,265,000 after acquiring an additional 8,531 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 125.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 18,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,000 after purchasing an additional 10,159 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 20.8% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Nutrien by 1,370.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KKM Financial LLC raised its stake in Nutrien by 5.6% in the third quarter. KKM Financial LLC now owns 38,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after buying an additional 2,045 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $46.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.03. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $44.65 and a 52 week high of $60.87. 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 capitalization of $23.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.02%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 144.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.