Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Acquires 2,121 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,896 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,121 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $1,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 12,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc grew its stake in Nutrien by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 8,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 5,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 50,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meixler Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Meixler Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTR. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $58.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Berenberg Bank upgraded Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday. Raymond James lowered Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $88.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twelve 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 $68.25.

Nutrien Price Performance

NYSE:NTR traded down $1.31 on Tuesday, hitting $52.77. The company had a trading volume of 1,439,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,980,062. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $70.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.94.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.35). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.59% and a net margin of 4.33%. The company had revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.38%.

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.