Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 23.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 430,894 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,525 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.09% of Nutrien worth $25,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Nutrien in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 72.6% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 656 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 42.4% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the first quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 27.7% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of Nutrien stock opened at $76.26 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.91. The firm has a market cap of $36.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 0.70. Nutrien Ltd. has a 12 month low of $45.78 and a 12 month high of $78.00.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Nutrien had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.43%.The business had revenue of $5.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on NTR shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Nutrien from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.82.

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.