Nutrien Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 10,615 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 101% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,272 put options.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR traded down $0.52 on Tuesday, reaching $61.59. The company had a trading volume of 398,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,358,736. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Nutrien has a 1 year low of $45.78 and a 1 year high of $65.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.72.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 7.54% and a net margin of 6.79%.The business’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NTR shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Nutrien from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

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

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.