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

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 10,241,667 shares, an increase of 92.8% from the June 15th total of 5,310,769 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,476,553 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth $32,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 1,014.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Sfam LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 price objective on Nutrien and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Nutrien from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.00.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NTR traded down $1.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $67.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,970,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,284,623. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.84. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $53.03 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 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.