CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Cut to Underperform at Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $83.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CF Industries from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on CF Industries from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on CF Industries from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on CF Industries from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CF Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.64.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $84.56 on Wednesday. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $69.13 and a 12-month high of $90.86. The company has a market cap of $15.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.70, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CF Industries will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CF Industries news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total value of $648,234.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,211 shares in the company, valued at $2,629,574.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total value of $648,234.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,629,574.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 2,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 66,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,964,120. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CF. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 401.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,639,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $269,729,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912,942 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in CF Industries by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,063,854 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,920,000 after buying an additional 835,557 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in CF Industries by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,871,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,823,000 after buying an additional 198,246 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,193,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,584,000 after buying an additional 59,674 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,422,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,435,000 after acquiring an additional 68,834 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.