Cohen & Steers Inc. Purchases 56,680 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 53.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 161,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,680 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned 0.09% of CF Industries worth $13,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in CF Industries in the fourth quarter worth $74,000. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 88.5% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 150,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,830,000 after acquiring an additional 70,585 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 2,848.4% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 290,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,776,000 after acquiring an additional 280,535 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of CF Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CF Industries by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,792,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $494,202,000 after acquiring an additional 225,109 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $8,878,656. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CF Industries Stock Performance

CF stock opened at $72.00 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.41. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.34 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.84.

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

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $82.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CF Industries from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.20.

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.