Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the target of a large drop in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,567,872 shares, a drop of 45.6% from the June 30th total of 10,241,667 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,472,867 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 1,014.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.5% during the second quarter. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab now owns 61,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 22.0% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481 shares during the period. Finally, Somerset Trust Co increased its holdings in Nutrien by 2.2% in the second quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 10,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR traded down $1.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,089,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,123,783. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $53.03 and a 52 week high of $85.36. The stock has a market cap of $33.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $66.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.36.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. Nutrien’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Nutrien will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 44.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 price target on shares of Nutrien and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $85.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce decreased their price target on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperformer” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.84.

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.