Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Raises Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 32.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,999 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,606 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $3,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $332,716,000. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 120.2% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,780,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,421,000 after buying an additional 2,063,881 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Nutrien by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 9,226,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,309,000 after buying an additional 2,050,358 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 12,017,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,928,000 after acquiring an additional 1,960,162 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 18,312.9% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,595,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586,631 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE NTR traded down $0.10 on Monday, hitting $50.43. 1,443,091 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,890,881. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $47.86 and a 52-week high of $69.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.05.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Nutrien had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. Research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.63.

Nutrien Company 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.