Sanford C. Bernstein Upgrades CF Industries (NYSE:CF) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded CF Industries to “strong buy,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “hold” with an average price target of $119.
• CF Industries shares opened at $114.58, down 3.3%, after the company reported quarterly EPS of $4.73 and revenue of $2.22 billion—both below analyst expectations.
• Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company, with major firms including BlackRock, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Allianz Asset Management and Norges Bank holding or adding significant positions.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Friday, Zacks reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of CF Industries from $133.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of CF Industries from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on CF Industries from $140.00 to $120.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered CF Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a "neutral" rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $119.00.

CF Industries Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of CF Industries stock opened at $114.58 on Friday. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $75.42 and a 12-month high of $141.96. The company has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 4.86, a quick ratio of 4.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company's 50-day moving average price is $125.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.24.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.63 by ($0.90). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 24.41%. CF Industries's revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that CF Industries will post 13.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CF Industries

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in CF Industries in the second quarter valued at $1,410,607,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in CF Industries by 3.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,458,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $579,062,000 after purchasing an additional 146,682 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in CF Industries by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,624,910 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $203,011,000 after purchasing an additional 431,868 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $193,657,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,055,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $158,983,000 after purchasing an additional 362,158 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CF Industries Company 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.

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