Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,830,000 shares, a drop of 18.5% from the March 31st total of 4,700,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NTR. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the third quarter worth $28,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 904.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 753 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Nutrien in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Nutrien from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Nutrien from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.25.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NYSE:NTR traded up $1.53 on Monday, reaching $54.08. 1,910,894 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,986,673. The firm has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.94. Nutrien has a 52 week low of $47.90 and a 52 week high of $70.07.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nutrien will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.38%.

About Nutrien

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.