CF Industries Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 9,109 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average volume of 5,547 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $510,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,442,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CF. Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 15,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 2.5% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,148 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 1.9% during the third quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 6,835 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 36.5% during the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 33,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,797,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $87.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of CF Industries from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group downgraded shares of CF Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of CF Industries in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.94.

CF Industries Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE:CF traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $80.36. 1,792,245 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,501,967. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $81.34 and its 200-day moving average is $79.77. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $60.08 and a 12-month high of $87.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.81, a quick ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.12). CF Industries had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 18.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CF Industries will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from CF Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. CF Industries’s payout ratio is 25.51%.

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.