Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Rating Increased to Overweight at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has $58.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $50.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. TD Securities decreased their price objective on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James raised Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.21.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE NTR opened at $52.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.85. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $43.69 and a 52 week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nutrien will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.21%. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,724,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 344.5% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 38,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,702,000 after acquiring an additional 29,484 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 189,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,485,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Foundation Resource Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at $7,744,000. Finally, Covea Finance increased its position in Nutrien by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 55,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.