CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from 17 ratings firms, with one sell, 13 hold, and three buy ratings. The average 12-month target price is $95.00.
• In the latest earnings report, CF Industries reported $2.37 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a 20.2% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, yielding approximately 2.4%, maintaining a payout ratio of 26.11%.

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

CF has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $100.00 target price on CF Industries and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on CF Industries from $108.00 to $101.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $82.00 target price (down from $93.00) on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wolfe Research cut CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $95.00 target price on CF Industries and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th.

CF Industries Price Performance

NYSE CF traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,496,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,188,285. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.01 and a 200 day moving average of $85.62. CF Industries has a one year low of $67.34 and a one year high of $104.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 2.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 0.95.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 20.19%.CF Industries's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Analysts expect that CF Industries will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CF Industries by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,040,601 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,644,323,000 after acquiring an additional 319,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in CF Industries by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,982,072 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $734,351,000 after buying an additional 165,833 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in CF Industries by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,055,283 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $473,220,000 after buying an additional 262,944 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in CF Industries by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,708,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $446,130,000 after buying an additional 240,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in CF Industries by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,623,708 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $283,169,000 after buying an additional 307,092 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.