CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.40 EPS

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40, Zacks reports. CF Industries had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 19.45%.

CF Industries Stock Performance

NYSE CF traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $83.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,632,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,405,342. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.51. CF Industries has a 52 week low of $69.13 and a 52 week high of $98.25. The stock has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.98.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total transaction of $144,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 92,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,878,656. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.78, for a total value of $635,460.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,016,314.58. This trade represents a 23.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,389 shares of company stock valued at $2,091,425 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on CF shares. UBS Group increased their price target on CF Industries from $91.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded CF Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays downgraded CF Industries from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $96.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $82.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank restated a “sector underperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.43.

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.