Alberta Investment Management Corp Acquires Shares of 39,500 CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp recently acquired 39,500 shares of CF Industries Holdings, valued at approximately $3.1 million, indicating significant institutional interest in the company.
• CF Industries announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.2%, and has received a consensus target price of $95.71 from analysts.
• The company's share buyback program allows for the repurchase of $2 billion worth of shares, which signals the board's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 39,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,087,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CF. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 49.2% during the 1st quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 14,189 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 51,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,986,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 103.5% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 3,223 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,639 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 185.1% during the 1st quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 9,147 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 5,939 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of CF Industries during the 1st quarter worth $361,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.23, for a total transaction of $1,002,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 87,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,812,522.29. The trade was a 10.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on CF shares. Wolfe Research lowered CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised CF Industries from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on CF Industries from $82.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas raised CF Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on CF Industries from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $95.71.

CF Industries Stock Performance

NYSE CF opened at $91.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $94.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.68. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.34 and a 1-year high of $104.45.

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

CF Industries declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CF Industries's payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

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.

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