CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital upgraded shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $118.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded CF Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on CF Industries from $132.00 to $133.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.47.

CF Industries Price Performance

CF stock opened at $127.83 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $19.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.49 and a beta of 0.42. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $75.42 and a 12-month high of $141.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $124.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.66.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $1.35. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 23.73%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 15.02 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 17.97%.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In other CF Industries news, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.00, for a total transaction of $756,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 69,472 shares in the company, valued at $8,753,472. This represents a 7.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 18,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.06, for a total value of $2,454,658.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 55,762 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,586,977.72. This trade represents a 24.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 82,408 shares of company stock worth $9,971,298 over the last quarter. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,013,846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,742,000 after acquiring an additional 480,126 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,458,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $579,062,000 after purchasing an additional 146,682 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,587,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $321,852,000 after purchasing an additional 476,769 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,570,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,123,000 after purchasing an additional 381,716 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,351,194 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,602,000 after purchasing an additional 63,938 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Company 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.