CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 14th

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

CF Industries has raised its dividend payment by an average of 18.6% annually over the last three years. CF Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 36.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect CF Industries to earn $5.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

CF Industries Price Performance

Shares of CF Industries stock opened at $92.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. CF Industries has a twelve month low of $69.13 and a twelve month high of $98.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $89.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.33.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.50. CF Industries had a net margin of 19.45% and a return on equity of 14.57%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. CF Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CF Industries will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.00, for a total transaction of $144,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 92,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,878,656. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total value of $264,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 103,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,077,640. This represents a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,389 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,425 over the last three months. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $82.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on CF Industries in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of CF Industries from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $96.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of CF Industries from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $114.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CF Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.43.

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.