Earnest Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF)

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF - Free Report) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,193,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 59,674 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned 1.20% of CF Industries worth $162,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,156 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in CF Industries by 75.7% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,833 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 790 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of CF Industries by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 11,396 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 14,390 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 93,401 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,425,000 after acquiring an additional 9,387 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on CF Industries from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CF Industries from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays upgraded shares of CF Industries from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CF Industries from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on CF Industries from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CF Industries currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $87.73.

CF Industries Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of CF traded up $1.09 on Thursday, reaching $84.93. The stock had a trading volume of 337,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,155,203. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.98. CF Industries Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.13 and a 12-month high of $87.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.70.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. CF Industries had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

CF Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. CF Industries's dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

CF Industries Company 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.