Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Boosts Stake in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 430,894 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,525 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $25,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTR. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 72.6% during the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 656 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Nutrien by 42.4% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien during the first quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 27.7% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NTR. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.82.

Nutrien Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $76.26 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $68.48 and its 200 day moving average is $61.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $45.78 and a 1 year high of $78.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 0.70.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Nutrien Profile

Nutrien Ltd. is a global fertilizer and agricultural-services company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is publicly traded and operates across the farm input value chain, combining upstream fertilizer production with a broad retail and services platform aimed at supporting crop production worldwide. Nutrien’s business model integrates the manufacture and distribution of crop nutrients with on-the-ground agronomic support for growers and agricultural businesses.

Nutrien produces and supplies the three primary fertilizer nutrients—potash, nitrogen and phosphate—through its wholesale operations, and markets a wide range of crop inputs including seeds and crop protection products.