Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $48.36, but opened at $50.50. Nutrien shares last traded at $50.50, with a volume of 713,562 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Nutrien from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Nutrien from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Nutrien from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Nutrien from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Nutrien from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three equities research 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.44.

Nutrien Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $47.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.66. The company has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Nutrien (NYSE:NTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $10.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.82 billion. Nutrien had a return on equity of 6.91% and a net margin of 2.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Nutrien Ltd. will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nutrien

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Nutrien by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,781,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,012,000 after acquiring an additional 570,912 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Nutrien by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,354,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,794,333 shares in the last quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP grew its stake in Nutrien by 164.4% in the third quarter. Silchester International Investors LLP now owns 10,683,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $513,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,642,075 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Nutrien by 0.5% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,571,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $519,816,000 after purchasing an additional 50,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased 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 valued at $458,522,000 after buying an additional 167,312 shares during the last quarter. 63.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.