StockNews.com Begins Coverage on CF Industries (NYSE:CF)

Equities researchers at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of CF Industries (NYSE:CF – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on CF. HSBC lowered CF Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $104.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on CF Industries from $126.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Scotiabank downgraded CF Industries from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price target on CF Industries from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on CF Industries from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CF Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.58.

CF Industries Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE:CF opened at $72.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. CF Industries has a 1-year low of $70.69 and a 1-year high of $119.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.23.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.13 by $0.22. CF Industries had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 29.91%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.71 EPS. CF Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CF Industries will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CF. Morgan Stanley increased its position in CF Industries by 101.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,014,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,026,000 after buying an additional 2,017,325 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in CF Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $159,602,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,971,287 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $167,954,000 after purchasing an additional 894,857 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 331.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,155,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $99,074,000 after purchasing an additional 888,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 78.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,821,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $154,827,000 after purchasing an additional 799,020 shares in the last quarter. 92.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CF Industries

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc engages in the manufacture and distribution of nitrogen fertilizer. The firm owns and operates nitrogen plants and serves agricultural and industrial customers through its distribution system. It operates through following segments: Ammonia, Granular Urea, UAN, AN, and Other.