Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,310,769 shares, a growth of 89.5% from the May 31st total of 2,802,286 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,204,984 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America upgraded Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank raised Nutrien from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Nutrien from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.61.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Nutrien in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Sfam LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in Nutrien by 133.0% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Nutrien stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.04. The stock had a trading volume of 2,858,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,147,520. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $53.03 and a 12 month high of $85.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $68.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 44.81%.

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.