CF Industries Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CF)

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 17,233 call options on the company. This is an increase of 332% compared to the typical volume of 3,987 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on CF Industries in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $86.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research cut CF Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on CF Industries from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, CF Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 88.5% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 150,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 70,585 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 2,848.4% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 290,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,776,000 after purchasing an additional 280,535 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in CF Industries by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,792,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $494,202,000 after acquiring an additional 225,109 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in CF Industries by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 327,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,955,000 after acquiring an additional 24,135 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CF opened at $93.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. CF Industries has a twelve month low of $67.34 and a twelve month high of $98.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $82.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.03. The stock has a market cap of $15.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.97.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.38. CF Industries had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 20.52%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CF Industries will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

CF Industries declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, May 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to reacquire up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

CF Industries Company 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.