Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $955,000 Stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. by 110.6% in the first quarter, owning 12,225 shares worth approximately $955,000.
• Analysts have differing ratings on CF Industries, with Royal Bank of Canada setting a $100.00 price objective and JPMorgan Chase upgrading their rating from underweight to neutral.
• CF Industries announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, resulting in an annualized payout of $2.00 and a dividend yield of 2.4%.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 110.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,420 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in CF Industries were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CF. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CF Industries by 8,352.8% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,451,338 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $113,422,000 after buying an additional 1,434,168 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in CF Industries by 72.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,278,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $178,053,000 after buying an additional 959,901 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CF Industries by 113.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 928,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $72,123,000 after buying an additional 492,846 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in CF Industries by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,275,464 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $255,977,000 after buying an additional 470,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in CF Industries in the 1st quarter valued at $34,179,000. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CF Industries news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 87,923 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,812,522.29. This trade represents a 10.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CF. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (down from $93.00) on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Zacks Research lowered CF Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Barclays upgraded CF Industries from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded CF Industries from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded CF Industries from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $95.00.

CF Industries Trading Down 0.0%

CF stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $85.60. 576,432 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,707,797. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $89.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a current ratio of 3.22. The company has a market cap of $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.95. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $67.34 and a one year high of $104.45.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 20.19%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.11%.

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.