Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Trading 5.8% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) shot up 5.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Jefferies Financial Group now has a $96.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $74.00. Nutrien traded as high as $84.92 and last traded at $83.9030. 2,798,117 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 3,278,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.31.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley raised Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Barclays upped their price target on Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.12.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Sfam LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake 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 last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.02 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.29.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.21%.

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.