CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) gapped down before the market opened on Monday after BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on the stock from $140.00 to $120.00. The stock had previously closed at $109.48, but opened at $103.31. BNP Paribas Exane currently has a neutral rating on the stock. CF Industries shares last traded at $105.9820, with a volume of 526,266 shares.

CF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on CF Industries from $118.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on CF Industries from $140.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CF Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CF Industries presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.75.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In other CF Industries news, VP Erik M. Mayer sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.69, for a total value of $187,035.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 6,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,659.29. This represents a 19.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.00, for a total transaction of $756,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 69,472 shares in the company, valued at $8,753,472. The trade was a 7.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 10,999 shares of company stock valued at $1,381,740 over the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $193,657,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 37.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $333,501,000 after buying an additional 1,178,516 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at $96,560,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 203.7% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,088,286 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $141,303,000 after purchasing an additional 729,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its position in CF Industries by 52.4% during the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,775,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $159,227,000 after buying an additional 610,259 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Stock Down 3.1%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $120.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.84. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $16.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 0.38.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $1.35. CF Industries had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 23.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 15.84 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.97%.

About CF Industries

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.