CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $116.5625.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CF. Zacks Research downgraded CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CF Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of CF Industries from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CF Industries

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the 2nd quarter worth $1,410,607,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in CF Industries by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,458,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $579,062,000 after buying an additional 146,682 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in CF Industries by 15.3% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,587,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $321,852,000 after buying an additional 476,769 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in CF Industries by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,570,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,123,000 after buying an additional 381,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 0.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,287,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $302,428,000 after acquiring an additional 11,792 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CF Industries Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $117.75 on Tuesday. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $75.42 and a 12-month high of $141.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 4.86, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.63 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 27.12%.The company’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that CF Industries will post 13.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is a positive change from CF Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is 17.79%.

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.