VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Sells 49,900 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems et al reduced its CF Industries stake by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 49,900 shares and leaving it with 547,618 shares valued at about $42.35 million.
• CF Industries reported strong quarterly earnings, posting $3.98 EPS versus the $2.63 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.99 billion, up 19.4% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, payable May 29, which works out to an annualized dividend of $2.00 and a yield of 1.5%.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al cut its position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 547,618 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 49,900 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned about 0.35% of CF Industries worth $42,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 11.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 232,647 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $20,868,000 after buying an additional 23,942 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 878.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,941 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,609,000 after buying an additional 16,107 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 19.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 369,321 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $33,128,000 after buying an additional 61,140 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CF Industries in the third quarter valued at $677,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,170,171 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,501,000 after buying an additional 248,020 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In other news, SVP Michael Patrick Mcgrane sold 3,666 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.50, for a total transaction of $427,089.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 19,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,232,256.50. This trade represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Erik M. Mayer sold 1,500 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.69, for a total value of $187,035.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 6,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $790,659.29. This represents a 19.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 82,408 shares of company stock valued at $9,971,298. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CF Industries Trading Up 4.6%

Shares of CF Industries stock opened at $130.25 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.28. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.42 and a 1 year high of $141.96. The company has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 3.15.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.63 by $1.35. CF Industries had a return on equity of 20.93% and a net margin of 23.73%.The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 13.53 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research raised CF Industries from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised CF Industries from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on CF Industries from $140.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CF Industries from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.27.

CF Industries Company Profile

CF Industries Holdings, Inc is a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for agricultural and industrial customers. The company specializes in the production of ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, which serve as key inputs for fertilizer blends, industrial chemicals and other downstream applications.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, CF Industries operates production facilities and distribution terminals across North America and the United Kingdom.

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