Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) Short Interest Up 33.0% in March

by · The Markets Daily

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR – Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,420,000 shares, an increase of 33.0% from the March 15th total of 16,110,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.7 days.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,808,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,802. Nutrien has a 12 month low of $43.70 and a 12 month high of $60.87. The firm has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.86 and a 200-day moving average of $49.26.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.09). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.62%. The business had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.09 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 159.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Nutrien from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on Nutrien from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Nutrien from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their price target on Nutrien from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on Nutrien from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.40.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on NTR

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Seed Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Nutrien during the 1st quarter worth approximately $204,000. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Nutrien by 10.0% during the first quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co lifted its position in shares of Nutrien by 2.5% in the first quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 16,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co bought a new position in shares of Nutrien in the first quarter worth about $2,511,000. Finally, Louisbourg Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 19.5% in the first quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 105,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,261,000 after acquiring an additional 17,263 shares during the period. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nutrien

(Get Free Report)

Nutrien Ltd. provides crop inputs and services. The company operates through four segments: Retail, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphate. The Retail segment distributes crop nutrients, crop protection products, seeds, and merchandise products. The Potash segment provides granular and standard potash products.

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