CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF Shares Sold by NewEdge Advisors LLC

NewEdge Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 53.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 14,612 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $1,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in CF Industries by 3.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,458,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $579,062,000 after purchasing an additional 146,682 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 15.3% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,587,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $321,852,000 after buying an additional 476,769 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 worth $276,123,000 after buying an additional 381,716 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 11,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,147,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $243,436,000 after buying an additional 163,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on CF Industries from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on CF Industries from $133.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on CF Industries from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded CF Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on CF Industries from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.56.

CF Industries Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:CF opened at $118.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.63. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.42 and a 52 week high of $141.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a current ratio of 4.86. The company has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a PE ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.39.

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

CF Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from CF Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is 14.83%.

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.