State of Michigan Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its holdings in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,754 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $4,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in CF Industries by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in CF Industries by 4.9% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CF shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on CF Industries from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised shares of CF Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CF Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 $8,878,656. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,507,745. This represents a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CF Industries Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE CF opened at $76.65 on Friday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.13 and a 12-month high of $98.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.08, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $12.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.99.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 20.52%. On average, analysts forecast that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. CF Industries’s dividend 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.