Legato Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 7,506 CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 232,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,868,000 after acquiring an additional 23,942 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 878.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,609,000 after acquiring an additional 16,107 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 369,321 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,128,000 after acquiring an additional 61,140 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,170,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,501,000 after acquiring an additional 248,020 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $376,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of CF Industries from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CF Industries from $140.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CF Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.00, for a total value of $756,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 69,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,753,472. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 18,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.06, for a total transaction of $2,454,658.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 55,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,586,977.72. The trade was a 24.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 82,408 shares of company stock worth $9,971,298. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CF Industries Stock Performance

CF Industries stock opened at $119.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $124.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.99. The company has a market capitalization of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.42. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.42 and a 12-month high of $141.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 3.15.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $1.35. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 23.73% and a return on equity of 20.93%. The company’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.85 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. CF Industries’s payout ratio is presently 17.97%.

CF Industries Profile

CF Industries Holdings, Inc is a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for agricultural and industrial customers. The company specializes in the production of ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, which serve as key inputs for fertilizer blends, industrial chemicals and other downstream applications.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, CF Industries operates production facilities and distribution terminals across North America and the United Kingdom.