National Pension Service Buys 43,665 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 112.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,665 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $6,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 10.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,013,846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,742,000 after buying an additional 480,126 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 1.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,351,194 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,602,000 after buying an additional 63,938 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 22.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,133,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $281,104,000 after buying an additional 568,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,984,291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,691,000 after buying an additional 114,788 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CF. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on CF Industries from $118.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised CF Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on CF Industries from $95.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $72.00 price target on CF Industries in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CF Industries from $80.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CF Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.69.

Insider Activity

In other CF Industries news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 2,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $270,729.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 4,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $477,189. This represents a 36.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 18,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.06, for a total value of $2,454,658.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 55,762 shares in the company, valued at $7,586,977.72. This trade represents a 24.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,513 shares of company stock worth $8,952,781. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CF Industries Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:CF opened at $113.41 on Tuesday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.42 and a twelve month high of $141.96. The company has a quick ratio of 3.15, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $123.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.89. The company has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.38.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $1.35. CF Industries had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 23.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 15.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 17.97%.

CF Industries Company Profile

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.