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

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 4,695,577 shares, a decrease of 16.5% from the February 26th total of 5,624,648 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 5,772,251 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR traded down $1.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.42. 5,494,788 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,762,613. 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 $36.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.70. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $45.78 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.18 and a 200-day moving average of $64.13.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a $0.55 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Securities upped their price objective on Nutrien from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Nutrien from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nutrien by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,463,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,386,546,000 after acquiring an additional 479,834 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 440.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,338,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,713,000 after acquiring an additional 13,313,817 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 19.1% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,221,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $834,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,651 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,307,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $821,326,000 after purchasing an additional 70,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 9,798,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,745,000 after purchasing an additional 189,683 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Nutrien

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.