Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $78.08 and last traded at $77.6470, with a volume of 3310615 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NTR shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $36.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $68.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.91.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 220,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,958,000 after acquiring an additional 60,491 shares in the last quarter. Colrain Capital LLC increased its stake in Nutrien by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Colrain Capital LLC now owns 128,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after purchasing an additional 33,650 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 122.1% during the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 68,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,000,000 after purchasing an additional 37,447 shares during the last quarter. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. acquired a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter worth $1,511,000. Finally, Black Creek Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Nutrien by 57.3% during the third quarter. Black Creek Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,367,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,050,000 after purchasing an additional 862,487 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.