Aviance Capital Partners LLC Has $1.15 Million Stock Holdings in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 85.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,872 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,981 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Nutrien were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CORDA Investment Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Nutrien by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 494,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,777,000 after purchasing an additional 32,541 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Nutrien during the second quarter valued at about $2,639,000. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Nutrien by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 564,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,139,000 after acquiring an additional 23,117 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in Nutrien by 335.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 70,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,379,000 after buying an additional 54,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in Nutrien by 88.6% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 30,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 14,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.10% of the company’s stock.

Nutrien Stock Performance

NTR stock opened at $45.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a 1 year low of $44.65 and a 1 year high of $60.87. The company has a market cap of $22.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.28.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The company’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.939 dividend. This is a positive change from Nutrien’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC lowered shares of Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group cut shares of Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.33.

About Nutrien

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.