Nutrien Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 8,937 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 41% compared to the average volume of 6,344 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth approximately $332,716,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Nutrien by 51.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,853,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,881,000 after buying an additional 2,322,679 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its stake in Nutrien by 120.2% during the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,780,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,421,000 after buying an additional 2,063,881 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 9,226,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,309,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,358 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 12,017,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $58.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $28.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.88. Nutrien has a 1-year low of $47.90 and a 1-year high of $69.12.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $5.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 4.33% and a return on equity of 8.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 84.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on NTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.50.

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.