Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 66,075 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in CF Industries by 2.4%, owning approximately 1.69% of the company worth $224 million after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• CF Industries reported $2.37 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, while its revenue increased by 20.2% year-over-year to $1.89 billion.
• The company has initiated a stock repurchase program allowing it to buy back up to $2 billion in shares, suggesting that management believes the stock is undervalued.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,867,552 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 66,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.69% of CF Industries worth $224,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,192 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 7,906 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,624 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,425 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.23, for a total value 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. This represents a 10.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.42% of the company's stock.

CF Industries Price Performance

Shares of CF traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $86.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,634,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,840,914. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.34 and a twelve month 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 company's 50-day moving average is $92.16 and its 200-day moving average is $84.95. The company has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 0.94.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.02. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 20.19%.The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. CF Industries's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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 initiated a share buyback 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 purchase up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued 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 2.3%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised CF Industries from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wolfe Research cut CF Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen cut CF Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays raised CF Industries from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $81.00) on shares of CF Industries in a report on Monday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $95.00.

CF Industries 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.