Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Shares Purchased by Portland Investment Counsel Inc.

Portland Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 308,800 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Nutrien accounts for 5.3% of Portland Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Nutrien worth $14,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.8% in the second quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in Nutrien by 2.4% in the second quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 9,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Nutrien by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,222,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC cut Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.33.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR stock opened at $46.69 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $44.65 and a 12 month high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.939 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.04%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.97%.

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.