Legal & General Group Plc Sells 293,901 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 775,358 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 293,901 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.45% of CF Industries worth $66,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of CF Industries by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in CF Industries by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in CF Industries by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CF Industries by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $86.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded CF Industries from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $81.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on CF Industries from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total value of $144,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 92,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,878,656. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,507,745. This trade represents a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,889 shares of company stock valued at $1,130,955 over the last ninety days. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CF Industries Stock Up 2.9 %

CF Industries stock opened at $72.00 on Friday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.34 and a fifty-two week high of $98.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.92 and its 200-day moving average is $84.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. CF Industries had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 20.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 29.54%.

CF Industries 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.