Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Grows Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 344.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,043 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,484 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $1,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 6.5% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.2% during the third quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 7,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 2.0% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 14,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.3% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 3.3% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NTR shares. CIBC restated an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 price target (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Securities cut their price objective on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler upgraded Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.21.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $51.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $47.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $43.69 and a 12-month high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $25.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.939 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.28%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.97%.

About Nutrien

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.