Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Acquires Shares of 4,169 Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Nutrien in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 28,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Nutrien by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich grew its position in Nutrien by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 9,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the second quarter worth $31,063,000. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 20th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 target price (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. TD Securities lowered their price target 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 downgraded Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.95.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $44.58 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $43.87 and a twelve month high of $60.87. The company has a market cap of $21.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results 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 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.939 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.43%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 144.97%.

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.