Short Interest in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Increases By 48.6%

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 18,013,937 shares, an increase of 48.6% from the December 15th total of 12,124,530 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,194,617 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.2 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,194,617 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTR. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.12.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth about $395,842,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $696,058,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900,755 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the second quarter valued at $150,416,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,268,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 16.5% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,368,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,766 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,847,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,374,346. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 0.72. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $45.78 and a fifty-two week high of $67.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.92.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 6.79%.The business had revenue of $5.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

Nutrien Company 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.