Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Shares Sold by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 36.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,988 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,830 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth $35,000. Evolution Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Nutrien by 33.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nutrien by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.39.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR stock traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.06. 118,342 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,875,470. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.93. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $47.86 and a 1-year high of $69.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $25.26 billion, a PE ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.83.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.11. Nutrien had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.38 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 126.32%.

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.