Nutrien Ltd. $NTR Shares Sold by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund decreased its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 58.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 111,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 159,231 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $8,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Sfam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 133.0% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 3.2%

Nutrien stock opened at $69.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $53.03 and a 1-year high of $85.36. The company has a market cap of $33.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.21.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 8.58%.Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 44.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTR. Mizuho decreased their price target on Nutrien from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.84.

Nutrien 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.