Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Stock Position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 126,998 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,105 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.07% of CF Industries worth $10,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CF. FMR LLC increased its stake in CF Industries by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,286,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $711,003,000 after acquiring an additional 300,050 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CF Industries by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,792,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $494,202,000 after purchasing an additional 225,109 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CF Industries by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $382,901,000 after buying an additional 299,173 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in CF Industries by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,316,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $283,044,000 after buying an additional 216,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in CF Industries by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,460,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,652,000 after buying an additional 68,164 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other CF Industries news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $8,878,656. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 15,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,507,745. The trade was a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of CF Industries from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.86.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of CF Industries stock opened at $77.35 on Friday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.13 and a 12 month high of $98.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.03. The firm 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 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 (NYSE:CF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. CF Industries had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

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.