Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 29,101 Shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 13.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 245,742 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,101 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.14% of CF Industries worth $21,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CF. FMR LLC raised its holdings in CF Industries by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,286,745 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $711,003,000 after acquiring an additional 300,050 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CF Industries by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,567,230 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $477,668,000 after purchasing an additional 22,392 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CF Industries by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,188,648 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $359,386,000 after purchasing an additional 549,569 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,871,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $212,823,000 after buying an additional 198,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2.8% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,193,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $162,584,000 after buying an additional 59,674 shares in the last quarter. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CF Industries

In other CF Industries news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total transaction of $648,234.02. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,629,574.22. The trade was a 19.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bert A. Frost sold 3,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total transaction of $264,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,077,640. This trade represents a 2.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,701 shares of company stock worth $2,052,704. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CF. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of CF Industries from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on CF Industries from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on CF Industries from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on CF Industries in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CF Industries currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.38.

CF Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CF traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $84.98. 6,297,928 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,056,362. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $94.46. The company has a market cap of $14.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 2.81. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $86.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.89.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.50. CF Industries had a return on equity of 14.57% and a net margin of 19.45%. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. CF Industries's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 6.32 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. CF Industries's payout ratio is presently 31.65%.

CF Industries 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.