Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 4,130 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lowered its position in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 27.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,130 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $131,350,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in CF Industries by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,804,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,299,000 after acquiring an additional 637,784 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in CF Industries by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,830,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $753,429,000 after acquiring an additional 543,876 shares during the period. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,247,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its position in shares of CF Industries by 459.4% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 435,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,583,000 after purchasing an additional 357,531 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CF Industries Stock Up 1.8%

CF opened at $102.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $84.70 and its 200 day moving average is $84.25. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.34 and a fifty-two week high of $104.45. The stock has a market cap of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.59.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 21.80% and a return on equity of 17.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to purchase up to 14.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Bank of America raised shares of CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of CF Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $87.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of CF Industries from a “sector underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.21.

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.