CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Sanford C. Bernstein

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) was upgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on CF. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of CF Industries from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research cut CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on CF Industries from $133.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on CF Industries from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded CF Industries from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.00.

CF Industries Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of CF opened at $114.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 0.23 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 fifty-two week low of $75.42 and a fifty-two week high of $141.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $125.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.24.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.73 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.37 EPS. CF Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CF Industries will post 13.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2,748.8% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 188,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,376,000 after acquiring an additional 181,610 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter worth about $35,260,000. Menlo Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter worth about $5,237,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in CF Industries by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 72,692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,870,000 after purchasing an additional 28,610 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in CF Industries by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

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.