Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Raised to “Neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $50.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $40.00.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. TD Securities reduced 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 Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James upgraded Nutrien from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.21.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NTR opened at $51.19 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.21 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.84. 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 has a 12-month low of $43.69 and a 12-month high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Nutrien’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.5 EPS for the current 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 of this dividend 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 7.34%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter worth $93,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Nutrien by 3.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,911 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in Nutrien by 28.5% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 75,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after purchasing an additional 16,720 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Nutrien by 6.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,620,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,432,000 after purchasing an additional 150,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.