Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Free Report) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $50.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $40.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on NTR. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Nutrien in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James upgraded shares of Nutrien from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC reiterated an "outperformer" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of Nutrien in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Nutrien from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their target price on Nutrien from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nutrien has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.21.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NTR traded up $2.72 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $51.19. The company had a trading volume of 3,855,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,576,988. The company has a market capitalization of $25.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.81. Nutrien has a 12-month low of $43.69 and a 12-month high of $60.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.04). Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. 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 business posted $0.35 earnings per share. Nutrien's revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Nutrien will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Nutrien Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.939 per share. This is an increase from Nutrien's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Nutrien's dividend payout ratio is presently 144.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Nutrien by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company's stock valued at $719,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,794,333 shares in the last quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 164.4% during the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 1.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,006,528 shares of the company's stock worth $458,522,000 after purchasing an additional 167,312 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in Nutrien by 8.1% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,990,374 shares of the company's stock worth $304,970,000 after purchasing an additional 446,340 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Nutrien by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,145,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,985,000 after buying an additional 399,348 shares in the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.