Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stock Position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 72.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,278,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 959,901 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.34% of CF Industries worth $178,053,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CF Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $131,350,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in CF Industries by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,804,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $239,299,000 after purchasing an additional 637,784 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in CF Industries by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,830,621 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $753,429,000 after purchasing an additional 543,876 shares in the last quarter. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,247,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 459.4% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 435,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,583,000 after purchasing an additional 357,531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company's stock.

CF Industries Trading Up 1.9%

CF stock traded up $1.88 on Wednesday, reaching $99.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,511,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,242,503. The firm has a market cap of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.02. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.34 and a 12-month high of $104.45. 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 (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.38. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.39% and a net margin of 21.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

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

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.50 dividend. 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 2.02%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $8,812,522.29. This trade represents a 10.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CF. Scotiabank upgraded CF Industries from a "sector underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $86.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas raised shares of CF Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on CF Industries from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.07.

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.