Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Purchases Shares of 17,681 Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $791,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Silchester International Investors LLP lifted its position in Nutrien by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Nutrien by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,529,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,436,000 after buying an additional 77,174 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,671 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.1% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,232,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,380,000 after buying an additional 165,582 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 11.9% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,830,000 after purchasing an additional 447,413 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NTR opened at $52.46 on Friday. 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 $25.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.09). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.09 billion. On average, 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 disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NTR shares. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Nutrien from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.13.

Nutrien 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.