Swiss National Bank Sells 82,200 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 5.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,402,436 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $82,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 42.4% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 2nd quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane cut Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.82.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $76.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $36.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.17. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $45.78 and a fifty-two week high of $78.08. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis 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 currently 46.78%.

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.