Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $74,000. National Pension Service grew its stake in CF Industries by 2,848.4% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 290,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,776,000 after acquiring an additional 280,535 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in CF Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 171,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,543,000 after purchasing an additional 21,632 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CF Industries from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $844,455.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total value of $144,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 92,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,878,656. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,889 shares of company stock valued at $1,130,955. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CF Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:CF opened at $77.35 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $13.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $82.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.14. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.13 and a fifty-two week high of $98.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CF Industries’s payout ratio is currently 29.54%.

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.