Korea Investment CORP Decreases Stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Korea Investment CORP cut its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 373,506 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,214 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $16,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its stake in Nutrien by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 27,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after buying an additional 5,470 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 753,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,693,000 after acquiring an additional 314,375 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Nutrien by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,615,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,152,000 after acquiring an additional 385,616 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,421,000. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NTR opened at $50.13 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.99. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1-year low of $43.70 and a 1-year high of $60.87. 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 company has a market cap of $24.50 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.81.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 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 firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.09 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.545 per share. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 159.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on NTR. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Nutrien from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.