Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.55 Per Share

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share on Thursday, April 16th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This is a 0.9% increase from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Nutrien has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Nutrien has a payout ratio of 53.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Nutrien Stock Up 2.6%

NYSE NTR traded up $1.83 on Thursday, hitting $72.11. 851,001 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,916,974. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $34.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.84 and a 200-day moving average of $60.49. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $45.78 and a 12 month high of $73.55.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $5.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 6.79% and a return on equity of 7.54%. Nutrien’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NTR shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.69.

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.