Cost savings spur dividend hike

Article Excerpt

NUTRIEN LTD. $65 (Toronto symbol NTR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 612.7 million; Market cap: $39.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nutrien.com) took its current form on January 1, 2018, through the merger of Agrium (old symbol AGU) and rival fertilizer producer Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (old symbol POT). The new company has already cut $401 million U.S. from its annual costs, and expects those savings to reach $600 million U.S. by the end of 2019. That’s ahead of its initial goal of $500 million U.S. Thanks to those savings, Nutrien recently raised its quarterly dividend by 7.5%, to $0.43 U.S. a share from $0.40 U.S. The new annual rate of $1.72 U.S. yields 2.6%. Nutrien is a buy. buy…