CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $116.5625.

CF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $86.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CF Industries from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CF Industries from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on CF Industries from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on CF Industries from $103.00 to $106.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in CF Industries by 10,624.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 19,345,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,094,311,000 after acquiring an additional 19,164,804 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter valued at about $1,410,607,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $193,657,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter valued at about $198,857,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter valued at approximately $186,353,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE:CF opened at $138.02 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $123.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a current ratio of 4.86. CF Industries has a 1 year low of $75.42 and a 1 year high of $141.96.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.63 by ($0.90). CF Industries had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 24.41%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.37 EPS. CF Industries’s revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 13.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from CF Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.79%.

About CF Industries

CF Industries Holdings, Inc is a global producer of nitrogen fertilizer and other nitrogen-based products. The company manufactures ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), ammonium nitrate and nitric acid, which are used primarily in agriculture to support crop production. Its industrial products also serve customers in areas such as emissions control, plastics, resins, chemicals and other manufacturing applications.

CF Industries operates production facilities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and supplies agricultural and industrial customers in North America and international markets.