Traders Purchase Large Volume of Nutrien Call Options (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 7,652 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 75% compared to the typical volume of 4,383 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Nutrien by 2,690.2% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 31,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after buying an additional 30,534 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Nutrien by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 376,787 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,224,000 after purchasing an additional 43,251 shares during the period. Ossiam grew its position in Nutrien by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 24,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 6,453 shares in the last quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP grew its position in Nutrien by 228.5% during the 4th quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP now owns 51,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 36,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cobalt Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the 4th quarter valued at $1,690,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NTR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Nutrien from $56.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.50.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE NTR traded up $0.74 on Wednesday, reaching $49.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 390,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,925,820. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $47.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.47. The stock has a market cap of $24.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $44.65 and a twelve month high of $62.53.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $10.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.97% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 126.32%.

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.