Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 244,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,600 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $10,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Nutrien by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,778,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $885,009,000 after buying an additional 325,210 shares in the last quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP grew its stake in Nutrien by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009,895 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Nutrien by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,529,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $426,436,000 after acquiring an additional 77,174 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Nutrien by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,615,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,152,000 after purchasing an additional 385,616 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.00.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE NTR opened at $50.13 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.50 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $43.70 and a 1-year high of $60.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.59 and a 200-day moving average of $49.02. 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 data on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The company had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 159.12%.

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.