Clearbridge Investments LLC Reduces Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,051,148 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,095 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $47,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on NTR shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR stock opened at $49.67 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.06. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $43.70 and a 52 week high of $60.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 6.81%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

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.