CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF) in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $100.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $96.00 to $91.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Barclays raised shares of CF Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. BNP Paribas cut CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on CF Industries from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.38.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of CF stock opened at $84.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $67.34 and a 12-month high of $104.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.61. The company has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 0.89.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.13. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 20.19%.The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that CF Industries will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is currently 24.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in CF Industries by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 261,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,417,000 after buying an additional 8,078 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 31.2% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 4,089 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in CF Industries by 14.2% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 45,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,536,000 after purchasing an additional 5,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in CF Industries during the first quarter worth about $261,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

About CF Industries

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.