M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

M&T Bank Corp reduced its stake in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 29.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,618 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CF. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in CF Industries by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in CF Industries by 2.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,192 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC raised its position in CF Industries by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 7,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in CF Industries by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on CF Industries from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $100.00 price objective on CF Industries and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer downgraded CF Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on CF Industries from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded CF Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.79.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of CF stock opened at $95.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.34. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.34 and a 12-month high of $104.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.35%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 10,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.23, for a total transaction of $1,002,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 87,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,812,522.29. The trade was a 10.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.71% of the stock is 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.