Aviance Capital Partners LLC Increases Stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,433,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Nutrien by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,210,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,025,790,000 after acquiring an additional 158,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 841,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,620,000 after acquiring an additional 296,122 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,798,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenorchy Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at $1,702,000. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $50.17 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $69.12.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 7.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 19th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. HSBC cut their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.28.

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.