Korea Investment CORP Decreases Position in Nutrien Ltd. $NTR

Korea Investment CORP decreased its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 311,113 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,927 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of Nutrien worth $18,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Nutrien by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,903,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,276,328,000 after acquiring an additional 712,305 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Nutrien by 14.0% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 13,268,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $772,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627,328 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 17.1% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 8,786,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,284,181 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 6.5% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,568,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $375,943,000 after purchasing an additional 463,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 48.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,992,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,291,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $58.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $57.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.41. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $43.69 and a 52 week high of $65.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.06. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 5.25%.The firm had revenue of $5.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.545 dividend. This represents a $2.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s payout ratio is presently 58.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTR. National Bankshares began coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $64.00 target price on the stock. National Bank Financial assumed coverage on Nutrien in a report on Friday, September 5th. They issued a “sector perform” rating for the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $65.00 to $63.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Nutrien from $63.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nutrien has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.94.

Nutrien Profile

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.