Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd trimmed its holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,985,282 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100,000 shares during the period. Nutrien comprises approximately 1.3% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $176,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nutrien by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,983,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,291,022,000 after acquiring an additional 80,135 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,268,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627,328 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 48.5% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,944,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $696,058,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900,755 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Nutrien by 16.5% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,368,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $432,838,000 after buying an additional 1,043,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at approximately $395,842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Trading Up 2.7%

Nutrien stock opened at $75.07 on Friday. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12-month low of $45.78 and a 12-month high of $75.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.21.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. 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. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NTR. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Nutrien from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.24.

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.