Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 258,090 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,046 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $15,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Nutrien by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 79,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,691,000 after buying an additional 15,230 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Nutrien by 1.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,854,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,901,000 after acquiring an additional 25,588 shares during the period. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV bought a new position in Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth $1,967,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 190.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 116,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,829,000 after buying an additional 76,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 37.8% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 220,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,958,000 after purchasing an additional 60,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Price Performance

NTR opened at $75.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average is $74.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.52. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $53.03 and a 1 year high of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped their price objective on Nutrien from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $77.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Nutrien from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.00.

About Nutrien

Nutrien Ltd. is a global fertilizer and agricultural-services company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The company is publicly traded and operates across the farm input value chain, combining upstream fertilizer production with a broad retail and services platform aimed at supporting crop production worldwide. Nutrien’s business model integrates the manufacture and distribution of crop nutrients with on-the-ground agronomic support for growers and agricultural businesses.

Nutrien produces and supplies the three primary fertilizer nutrients—potash, nitrogen and phosphate—through its wholesale operations, and markets a wide range of crop inputs including seeds and crop protection products.