Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on Nutrien (NYSE:NTR)

Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on NTR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, CIBC reissued an “outperformer” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.95.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR stock opened at $48.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a PE ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.02. Nutrien has a one year low of $44.65 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.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.80%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter worth about $2,237,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at about $815,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Nutrien by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 43,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 11.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,830,000 after acquiring an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 9.4% during the third 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. 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.