Easterly Investment Partners LLC Takes $5.72 Million Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 118,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,717,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Nutrien during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the second quarter worth $32,000. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 50.0% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 900 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Nutrien by 33.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden bought a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the second quarter worth $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.10% of the company's stock.

Nutrien Trading Down 1.3 %

NTR stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.32. The stock had a trading volume of 2,225,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,951,724. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $23.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.82. Nutrien Ltd. has a twelve month low of $44.65 and a twelve month high of $60.87.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Nutrien's quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.939 per share. This is a positive change from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.77%. Nutrien's payout ratio is 144.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Nutrien from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nutrien presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.44.

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.