Westerkirk Capital Inc. Invests $1.44 Million in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Westerkirk Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 24,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,442,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Nutrien by 3.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,903,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,328,000 after purchasing an additional 712,305 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 14.0% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,268,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,742,000 after buying an additional 1,627,328 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 17.1% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,786,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,137,000 after buying an additional 1,284,181 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 6.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,568,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $375,943,000 after acquiring an additional 463,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 48.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,992,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,319,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291,518 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE:NTR opened at $59.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Nutrien Ltd. has a one year low of $43.69 and a one year high of $65.08. The company has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.71 and a 200-day moving average of $58.45.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a net margin of 5.25% and a return on equity of 6.51%. The company had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on NTR shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nutrien from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. TD Securities increased their price target on Nutrien from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, National Bank Financial began coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “sector perform” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.94.

Nutrien Company Profile

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.