Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd Buys 1,100,000 Shares of Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR)

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its position in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,495,282 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the period. Nutrien accounts for approximately 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd owned about 0.51% of Nutrien worth $121,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTR. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Nutrien by 33.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Nutrien by 84.2% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Nutrien by 834.3% in the first quarter. Appian Way Asset Management LP now owns 484,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,334,000 after buying an additional 432,984 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Nutrien by 15.7% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 709,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,548,000 after acquiring an additional 96,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Nutrien in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,186,000. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTR. Hsbc Global Res cut Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $66.00 to $51.00 in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Nutrien from $68.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Nutrien from $66.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.33.

Nutrien Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NTR opened at $46.93 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.01 and its 200 day moving average is $50.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Nutrien Ltd. has a 52 week low of $44.65 and a 52 week high of $60.87. The stock has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.82.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.26 billion. Nutrien had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 6.99%. The company’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.56 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.939 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. 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 8.00%. Nutrien’s dividend payout ratio is 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.