MQS Management LLC Acquires Shares of 13,842 Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 13,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $665,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CORDA Investment Management LLC. boosted its position in Nutrien by 7.0% in the third quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 494,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,777,000 after purchasing an additional 32,541 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at about $2,639,000. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Nutrien by 4.3% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 564,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,139,000 after buying an additional 23,117 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in Nutrien by 335.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 70,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,379,000 after acquiring an additional 54,138 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Nutrien by 88.6% in the third quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 30,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 14,434 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $47.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $44.65 and a twelve month high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.939 per share. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Securities dropped their price target on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.33.

Nutrien 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.