Stock Traders Buy High Volume of CF Industries Call Options (NYSE:CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 17,233 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 332% compared to the average daily volume of 3,987 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CF Industries

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 10.1% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 14,069 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of CF Industries in the first quarter worth $1,211,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 143.5% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 87,642 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,849,000 after purchasing an additional 51,644 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake 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 valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CF. Bank of America upgraded CF Industries from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. BNP Paribas raised shares of CF Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CF Industries from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CF Industries currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.21.

CF Industries Stock Up 6.5%

Shares of CF stock traded up $6.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $99.93. 6,205,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,157,415. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.97. CF Industries has a one year low of $67.34 and a one year high of $100.47. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $82.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.08.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CF Industries will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

CF Industries announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.