Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $43.69 and last traded at $44.75, with a volume of 2058005 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Friday, September 20th. CIBC restated an “outperformer” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nutrien has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.95.

Nutrien Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.92 and its 200-day moving average is $48.07.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The business’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.26%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 144.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,333 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% in the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,437,000 after acquiring an additional 6,642,075 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 167,312 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its stake in shares of Nutrien by 8.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,970,000 after acquiring an additional 446,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Nutrien by 8.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,985,000 after acquiring an additional 399,348 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.