CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Announces $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 8th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th.

CF Industries has a payout ratio of 32.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CF Industries to earn $5.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.1%.

CF Industries Stock Performance

CF stock traded up $2.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $98.12. 1,932,055 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,241,599. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.59. CF Industries has a 52 week low of $67.34 and a 52 week high of $104.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.96.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.53 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 21.80% and a return on equity of 17.39%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In other CF Industries news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.23, for a total transaction of $1,002,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 87,923 shares in the company, valued at $8,812,522.29. This represents a 10.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CF Industries

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 141.6% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 790 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 21.8% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 161.1% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,870 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 7,324 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 14,703 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 3.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 17,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CF Industries declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to buy up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CF shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank raised shares of 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, April 9th. Wolfe Research cut shares of CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 price target on shares of CF Industries and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of CF Industries from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.07.

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.