Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 112,823 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 23.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 595,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 112,823 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $50,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $131,350,000. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. bought a new position in shares of CF Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,247,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 459.4% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 435,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,583,000 after buying an additional 357,531 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in CF Industries by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 737,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,263,000 after buying an additional 300,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in CF Industries by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $382,901,000 after buying an additional 299,173 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total value of $144,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 92,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,878,656. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,745. This trade represents a 35.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Stock Performance

CF stock opened at $72.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.08 and a quick ratio of 2.52. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $98.25. The company has a market cap of $12.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.03.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. CF Industries had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 20.52%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.86.

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.