PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. Sells 4,610 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,290 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,610 shares during the period. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,781,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,012,000 after purchasing an additional 570,912 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 27,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the 1st quarter worth about $275,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Nutrien by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 724,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,403,000 after acquiring an additional 148,226 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTR. Hsbc Global Res lowered Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Securities reduced their target price on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.33.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR opened at $45.56 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.98 and a 200 day moving average of $50.28. The company has a market capitalization of $22.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $44.65 and a 1-year high of $60.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.939 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.24%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 144.97%.

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.