CF Industries Holdings, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%.

CF Industries has raised its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. CF Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 34.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CF Industries to earn $5.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.8%.

CF Industries Stock Up 2.3 %

CF traded up $1.79 during trading on Thursday, hitting $79.59. 4,155,915 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,534,033. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.77. The company has a current ratio of 3.81, a quick ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. CF Industries has a 12-month low of $60.08 and a 12-month high of $87.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.03.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 18.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.35 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CF Industries will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In related news, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 6,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total value of $510,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 64,030 shares in the company, valued at $5,442,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 8,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 965 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,957 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,252,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $99,611,000 after buying an additional 233,183 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 470,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,415,000 after purchasing an additional 46,769 shares during the period. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded CF Industries from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Piper Sandler downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on CF Industries in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CF Industries from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on CF Industries from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.94.

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.