Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Nutrien Put Options (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 14,278 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 128% compared to the average volume of 6,263 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $77.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered their price target on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperformer” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Nutrien by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 9,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in Nutrien by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA increased its holdings in Nutrien by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA now owns 3,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Moore & CO. raised its stake in Nutrien by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 7,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR traded down $0.76 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 817,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,312,816. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $29.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.76 and a 200-day moving average of $69.51. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $53.03 and a 12 month high of $85.36.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.58% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 44.81%.

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.