Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,110,000 shares, an increase of 150.9% from the February 28th total of 6,420,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Nutrien in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,742,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,812,000 after buying an additional 157,932 shares in the last quarter. Covea Finance boosted its stake in Nutrien by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 55,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,485,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Nutrien by 12.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,396,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,200,000 after acquiring an additional 151,596 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Nutrien by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,480,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,264,000 after purchasing an additional 80,382 shares during the period. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at $654,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE NTR traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $50.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,505,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,027,809. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $51.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.99. 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 has a twelve month low of $43.70 and a twelve month high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.09 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.72 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

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.