Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Short Interest Up 150.9% in March

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,110,000 shares, an increase of 150.9% from the February 28th total of 6,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.9 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 331.0% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 625 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 1,437.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 738 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Nutrien by 96.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR traded down $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.13. 1,505,033 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,027,809. Nutrien has a one year low of $43.70 and a one year high of $60.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.50 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. Analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

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.