HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 48,811 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 253.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,811 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $7,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of CF Industries by 10,624.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 19,345,196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,094,311,000 after buying an additional 19,164,804 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in CF Industries in the second quarter worth about $1,410,607,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in CF Industries by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,458,907 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $579,062,000 after acquiring an additional 146,682 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in CF Industries by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,587,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $321,852,000 after purchasing an additional 476,769 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,570,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $276,123,000 after purchasing an additional 381,716 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CF. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $103.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CF Industries from $94.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on CF Industries from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded CF Industries from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on CF Industries from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.47.

CF Industries Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:CF opened at $135.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.40. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.42 and a 52 week high of $141.96. The company has a quick ratio of 4.32, a current ratio of 4.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $123.50 and a 200 day moving average of $119.53.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.63 by ($0.90). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 27.12%.CF Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 13.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This is a positive change from CF Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. CF Industries’s payout ratio is 17.79%.

CF Industries Profile

CF Industries Holdings, Inc is a global producer of nitrogen fertilizer and other nitrogen-based products. The company manufactures ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), ammonium nitrate and nitric acid, which are used primarily in agriculture to support crop production. Its industrial products also serve customers in areas such as emissions control, plastics, resins, chemicals and other manufacturing applications.

CF Industries operates production facilities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and supplies agricultural and industrial customers in North America and international markets.