Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 41,732 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. $CF

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its holdings in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) by 83.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 41,732 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in CF Industries were worth $726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CF. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its stake in CF Industries by 24.4% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 95,289 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,767,000 after buying an additional 18,666 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $677,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 276,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,442,000 after purchasing an additional 15,291 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 347.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 507,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,502,000 after purchasing an additional 393,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. raised its position in CF Industries by 184.9% in the 3rd quarter. Burney Co. now owns 172,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,463,000 after purchasing an additional 111,883 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CF. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $72.00 price objective on CF Industries in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut CF Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 14th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on CF Industries from $83.00 to $78.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of CF Industries from $94.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of CF Industries from $91.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.14.

CF Industries Stock Performance

CF Industries stock opened at $92.86 on Friday. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.34 and a fifty-two week high of $104.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.27. The stock has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.70.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 18.14% and a net margin of 20.47%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.10%.

About CF Industries

CF Industries Holdings, Inc is a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for agricultural and industrial customers. The company specializes in the production of ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN), nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, which serve as key inputs for fertilizer blends, industrial chemicals and other downstream applications.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, CF Industries operates production facilities and distribution terminals across North America and the United Kingdom.