Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its position in shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 339,641 shares of the company's stock after selling 22,698 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.07% of Nutrien worth $16,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Nutrien in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,237,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nutrien in the 3rd quarter worth $815,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Nutrien by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 43,610 shares of the company's stock worth $2,098,000 after buying an additional 1,717 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Nutrien by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,220,354 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,830,000 after buying an additional 447,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Nutrien by 9.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,319,603 shares of the company's stock valued at $112,454,000 after buying an additional 198,620 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTR shares. CIBC restated an "outperformer" rating and set a $55.00 price target (down previously from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Nutrien from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group cut shares of Nutrien from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James raised Nutrien from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, TD Securities lowered their price target on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $58.95.

Nutrien Stock Performance

Nutrien stock opened at $44.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.27. Nutrien Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $43.87 and a fifty-two week high of $60.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.65. The company has a market capitalization of $21.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.80.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 2.79%. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.939 dividend. This is a positive change from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Nutrien Company 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.