CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Shares Purchased by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 139.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,310 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,745 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in CF Industries were worth $1,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CF. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,805 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in CF Industries by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in CF Industries by 2.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,192 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC grew its holdings in CF Industries by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 7,906 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of CF Industries by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 478 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company's stock.

CF Industries Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:CF traded up $2.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $98.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,912,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,250,379. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $91.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.18. The company has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94 and a beta of 0.96. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.34 and a fifty-two week high of $104.45.

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

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Oppenheimer cut shares of CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Wolfe Research lowered CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised CF Industries from a "sector underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $81.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CF Industries presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.07.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In related news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 87,923 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.