CF Industries Holdings, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%.

CF Industries has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. CF Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 34.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect CF Industries to earn $5.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.8%.

CF Industries Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $79.59 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.77. CF Industries has a 52 week low of $60.08 and a 52 week high of $87.90. The stock has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 3.44 and a current ratio of 3.81.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 18.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.35 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that CF Industries will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CF. Barclays raised CF Industries from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $87.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group cut shares of CF Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.94.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In related news, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $510,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 64,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,442,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in CF Industries by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 76,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,918,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $245,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CF Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $232,000. National Pension Service bought a new position in CF Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,765,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CF Industries by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,747,358 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,653,523,000 after acquiring an additional 94,482 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Company Profile

CF Industries Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of hydrogen and nitrogen products for energy, fertilizer, emissions abatement, and other industrial activities in North America, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Ammonia, Granular Urea, UAN, AN, and Other segments.