Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Stock Short Interest Report for September

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) saw a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 12,813,233 shares, a growth of 69.4% from the September 15th total of 7,565,200 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,675,716 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of Nutrien stock traded up $1.67 on Friday, reaching $71.25. The stock had a trading volume of 2,682,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,578,794. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $73.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.39. Nutrien has a fifty-two week low of $53.03 and a fifty-two week high of $85.36. The stock has a market cap of $33.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.68.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $2.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.70 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $10.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.44 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 8.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Nutrien will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Nutrien Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 29th. Nutrien’s payout ratio is currently 44.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTR. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter worth $654,081,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at $588,720,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at $375,178,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter valued at $359,318,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the 2nd quarter worth $220,942,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Nutrien from $93.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $71.00 target price on shares of Nutrien in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotia upgraded shares of Nutrien from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.90.

Nutrien Company Profile

Nutrien Ltd. is a Canada-based provider of crop inputs, services and solutions for agricultural producers. The company produces and distributes potash, nitrogen and phosphate products, which are used to support crop nutrition and agricultural productivity. Its product portfolio also includes crop protection products, seed, farm supplies and other agronomic inputs.

Nutrien serves farmers through a broad retail network operating primarily across North and South America, Australia and other international markets.