Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on NTR. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. CIBC boosted their price target on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock traded up $1.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.24. 194,920 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,058,829. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.10. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.60, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $43.70 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. Research analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 159.12%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,166,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,319,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,454,000 after acquiring an additional 198,620 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 43,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 3rd quarter worth $815,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.