Royal Bank of Canada Downgrades CF Industries (NYSE:CF) to Sector Perform

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) was downgraded by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $100.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 6.91% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CF. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $76.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of CF Industries in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on CF Industries in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America cut CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded CF Industries from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CF Industries has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.69.

CF Industries Price Performance

CF opened at $93.53 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 2.81. CF Industries has a 1-year low of $69.13 and a 1-year high of $98.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.98 and a 200-day moving average of $83.40. The company has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.80, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.98.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that CF Industries will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CF Industries news, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.86, for a total value of $325,010.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 62,768 shares in the company, valued at $5,828,636.48. The trade was a 5.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,000 shares of CF Industries stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.78, for a total value of $635,460.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,016,314.58. This represents a 23.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 25,389 shares of company stock worth $2,355,425. 0.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CF Industries

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CF. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of CF Industries by 2.5% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 12,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $961,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CF Industries by 323.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 14,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 11,287 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in CF Industries by 47.1% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 6,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in CF Industries by 10.6% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 338,510 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,615,000 after acquiring an additional 32,557 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the second quarter valued at about $386,000. 93.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.