StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on CF Industries (NYSE:CF)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

CF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $126.00 to $100.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. HSBC lowered shares of CF Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $104.80.

CF Industries Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of CF stock opened at $70.93 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.81 and a 200-day moving average of $94.63. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $70.69 and a 12-month high of $119.60. The firm has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.35, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.13 by $0.22. CF Industries had a net margin of 29.91% and a return on equity of 48.59%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.71 EPS. CF Industries’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is 9.80%.

Institutional Trading of CF Industries

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries during the 4th quarter worth $7,601,000. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 671,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,202,000 after acquiring an additional 254,281 shares during the last quarter. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 156,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,360,000 after acquiring an additional 22,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 239,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,424,000 after acquiring an additional 36,062 shares during the last quarter. 92.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CF Industries Company Profile

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture and distribution of nitrogen fertilizer. The firm owns and operates nitrogen plants and serves agricultural and industrial customers through its distribution system. It operates through following segments: Ammonia, Granular Urea, UAN, AN, and Other.