Aviva PLC Grows Position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Aviva PLC raised its position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 1,829.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 129,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 123,083 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $11,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,040,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,644,323,000 after purchasing an additional 319,343 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CF Industries by 4.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,055,283 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $473,220,000 after buying an additional 262,944 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in CF Industries by 4.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,708,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,130,000 after buying an additional 240,756 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in CF Industries by 9.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,623,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $283,169,000 after buying an additional 307,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in CF Industries by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,275,464 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $255,977,000 after buying an additional 470,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised CF Industries from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $104.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of CF Industries from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.38.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of CF stock opened at $83.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $86.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.84, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.89. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.34 and a 52-week high of $104.45.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.13. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 20.19%.The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is currently 24.10%.

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.