Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Short Interest Update

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,335,894 shares, a decrease of 53.5% from the December 31st total of 17,936,659 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,216,022 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,216,022 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Nutrien Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE NTR opened at $72.44 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $62.26 and its 200 day moving average is $59.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53 and a beta of 0.72. Nutrien has a twelve month low of $45.78 and a twelve month high of $72.79.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a net margin of 6.79% and a return on equity of 7.54%. The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is 58.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NTR. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Nutrien from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Nutrien from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Nutrien in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Nutrien by 258.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after purchasing an additional 27,553 shares during the last quarter. Emissary Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 4th quarter worth $635,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,359,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,257,000 after purchasing an additional 94,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 108,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

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.