CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Downgraded by Bank of America to “Underperform”

Bank of America lowered shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF) from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $83.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their target price on CF Industries from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on CF Industries from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.67.

CF Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CF opened at $83.99 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $82.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.33. CF Industries has a twelve month low of $69.13 and a twelve month high of $90.86. The company has a quick ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 4.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.95.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.96%. CF Industries’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.70 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that CF Industries will post 5.84 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 2.38%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of CF Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CF. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CF Industries by 401.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,639,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $269,729,000 after buying an additional 2,912,942 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 37.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,063,854 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,920,000 after acquiring an additional 835,557 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 137.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 580,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,305,000 after purchasing an additional 335,624 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 154.3% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 408,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,293,000 after purchasing an additional 248,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in CF Industries during the 1st quarter valued at about $19,824,000. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

About CF Industries

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.