Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Nutrien Put Options (NYSE:NTR)

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 14,278 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 128% compared to the average daily volume of 6,263 put options.

Nutrien Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NTR traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 817,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,312,816. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $69.76 and its 200-day moving average is $69.51. Nutrien has a 52-week low of $53.03 and a 52-week high of $85.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.60.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.03. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 8.58%.The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 44.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank set a $65.00 target price on shares of Nutrien and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Nutrien from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.71.

Institutional Trading of Nutrien

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 310.7% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Sfam LLC acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Eastern Bank raised its position in Nutrien by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Company Profile

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.