Barings LLC Boosts Stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Barings LLC grew its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 31.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 12,159 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $4,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CF. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries during the third quarter worth $39,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 422.0% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of CF Industries from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America raised shares of CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $142,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 93,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,670. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares in the company, valued at $1,507,745. The trade was a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955 over the last 90 days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CF Industries Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $77.28 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.45. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $98.25. The firm has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. CF Industries had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Equities analysts predict that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.54%.

CF Industries 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.