Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Holdings Reduced by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lowered its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,701,812 shares of the company’s stock after selling 613,841 shares during the quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $254,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nutrien by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,778,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $885,009,000 after acquiring an additional 325,210 shares during the period. Silchester International Investors LLP grew 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 worth $523,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,895 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,529,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $426,436,000 after purchasing an additional 77,174 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,043,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236,671 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,615,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,152,000 after purchasing an additional 385,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.5 %

NTR stock opened at $50.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52-week low of $43.70 and a 52-week high of $60.87. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.97.

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

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 159.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on NTR shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “sell” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Nutrien from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.00.

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.