Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,886,376 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144,025 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of Nutrien worth $84,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter worth about $150,181,000. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,396,000 after buying an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 78.8% in the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 11.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,830,000 after buying an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $50.54 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $24.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $43.70 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 159.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NTR. Raymond James upgraded Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their target price on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.13.

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.