Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Buys New Position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $722,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $74,000. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 2,848.4% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 290,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,776,000 after acquiring an additional 280,535 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in CF Industries by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,792,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $494,202,000 after acquiring an additional 225,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in CF Industries by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 171,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,543,000 after purchasing an additional 21,632 shares during the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CF shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of CF Industries in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $86.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upgraded CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.86.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $77.35 on Friday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $98.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market cap of $13.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.09.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. CF Industries had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,745. This trade represents a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total value of $144,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 92,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,878,656. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.48% 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.