3,125,395 Shares in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Bought by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,125,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,181,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth $2,186,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Nutrien by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after buying an additional 3,920 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $394,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Nutrien by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 5,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in Nutrien by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 63,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after buying an additional 15,550 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $45.88 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $47.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.94. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $44.65 and a 52 week high of $60.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.82. 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 (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). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.19%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of 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 restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.33.

Nutrien 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.