Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,712 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.19% of CF Industries worth $27,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CF Industries by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in CF Industries during the third quarter worth $373,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in CF Industries by 111.6% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,089 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in CF Industries by 17.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 7,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of CF Industries by 17.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 586,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $50,358,000 after buying an additional 88,432 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on CF Industries from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $82.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on CF Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.86.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In other CF Industries news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 8,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $844,455.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,871 shares in the company, valued at $1,507,745. The trade was a 35.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $142,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 93,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,928,670. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,889 shares of company stock worth $1,130,955. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CF Industries Price Performance

CF opened at $77.35 on Monday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $98.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.08. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.99.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. CF Industries had a net margin of 20.52% and a return on equity of 15.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.