Vanguard Group Inc. expanded its stake in Nutrien Ltd. (NYSE:NTR) by acquiring an additional 479,834 shares in the fourth quarter, bringing its total holdings to 22,463,277 shares valued at approximately $1.39 billion, according to HoldingsChannel. The investment company's increased position reflects broader institutional confidence in the Canadian fertilizer manufacturer.
Multiple institutional investors moved to strengthen their exposure to Nutrien during the first quarter of the year. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake by 65.1%, acquiring 9,950 additional shares to reach a total position of 25,224 shares valued at $1.253 million. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings by 6.2%, adding 404 shares to reach 6,907 shares worth $343,000. Two new institutional positions were also established: Focus Partners Wealth purchased a stake valued at $516,000, while Acadian Asset Management LLC initiated a position worth $54,000. Prudential Financial Inc. later entered the stock in the second quarter with an investment valued at $203,000.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors collectively hold 63.10% of Nutrien's outstanding stock. Analyst sentiment around the company remains mixed but leaning toward optimism. Among five major rating changes, Bank of America upgraded Nutrien from neutral to buy with an $82 price target, while Jefferies Financial Group also upgraded the stock to buy and raised its target from $74 to $96. Barclays and Mizuho adjusted their price targets upward to $80 and $68 respectively, though both maintained neutral stances. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce trimmed its target slightly from $90 to $88 while keeping an outperformer rating. Across all tracked analysts, the consensus rating stands at hold with a target price of $80, though eleven analysts rate the stock as buy, seven recommend hold, and two suggest sell.
Nutrien, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.83 per share in February, slightly below analyst expectations of $0.87. Revenue for the quarter reached $5.12 billion, trailing the consensus forecast of $5.26 billion. The company's net margin stood at 8.43% with a return on equity of 8.41%, and quarterly revenue grew 5.1% year-over-year. The stock opened Friday at $76.03 with a market capitalization of $36.56 billion and has traded between $53.03 and $85.36 over the past year.
Nutrien recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.55 per share, maintaining the same payout level as the previous quarter but generating an annualized dividend of $2.20 with a yield of 2.9%. The company's payout ratio currently stands at 47.21%. Analysts project the company will report earnings per share of $4.95 for the full year.
