HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 739 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $1,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 8.5% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in CF Industries by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,004,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in CF Industries by 40.4% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of CF Industries by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 14,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

CF Industries Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE CF opened at $89.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $15.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.98. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $94.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $86.71 and a 200-day moving average of $80.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.50. CF Industries had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 19.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 6.32 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CF Industries from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of CF Industries in a report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on CF Industries from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at CF Industries

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 2,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $180,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,964,120. This trade represents a 2.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total value of $648,234.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,629,574.22. This represents a 19.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,701 shares of company stock worth $2,052,704. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.