CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Declares $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%.

CF Industries has increased its dividend payment by an average of 18.6% per year over the last three years. CF Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 36.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CF Industries to earn $6.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.5%.

CF Industries Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE CF traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $92.22. 1,464,645 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,063,294. CF Industries has a 52-week low of $69.13 and a 52-week high of $98.25. The firm has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.13.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.50. CF Industries had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CF. UBS Group increased their price objective on CF Industries from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays downgraded CF Industries from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $96.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on CF Industries in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $142,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 93,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,928,670. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $844,455.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,389 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,425 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

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.