Silchester International Investors LLP Sells 925,454 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Silchester International Investors LLP reduced its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,055,993 shares of the company’s stock after selling 925,454 shares during the quarter. Nutrien accounts for 94.7% of Silchester International Investors LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Silchester International Investors LLP’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $250,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 65.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 25,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 9,950 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 6.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth about $516,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $75.72 on Friday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $45.78 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The company has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Nutrien from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.33.

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.