Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Trims Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 22.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,987 shares of the company’s stock after selling 577 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $95,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,333 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.9% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $458,522,000 after purchasing an additional 167,312 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.1% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,970,000 after purchasing an additional 446,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,985,000 after purchasing an additional 399,348 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nutrien Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $46.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.18. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $44.65 and a 1 year high of $60.87. The stock has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 144.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.33.

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.