IFP Advisors Inc Purchases 55,563 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 30,697.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 55,744 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,563 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $2,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Silchester International Investors LLP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 11,693,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,268,000 after buying an additional 1,009,895 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,396,000 after buying an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 4,232,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,380,000 after buying an additional 165,582 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 11.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,830,000 after buying an additional 447,413 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter valued at approximately $150,181,000. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $53.60 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.66 and a 200-day moving average of $48.35. The company has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a PE ratio of 39.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. 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 Ltd. has a 52-week low of $43.69 and a 52-week high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. The company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.09 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 159.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NTR shares. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $56.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.11.

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.