Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Short Interest Update

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,560,000 shares, a growth of 26.4% from the May 31st total of 4,400,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,433,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nutrien by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,210,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,025,790,000 after buying an additional 158,161 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Nutrien by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 841,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,620,000 after buying an additional 296,122 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Nutrien by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,798,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Glenorchy Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,702,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NTR shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.28.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR traded down $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $49.98. 2,009,267 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,871,857. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $47.90 and a fifty-two week high of $69.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.68. The stock has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.11. Nutrien had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 126.32%.

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.