CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, an increase of 14.2% from the August 31st total of 3,460,000 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CF Industries

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CF Industries during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,251,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of CF Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $610,000. Guidance Capital Inc. acquired a new position in CF Industries during the first quarter worth $863,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in CF Industries in the first quarter worth $19,824,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CF Industries by 68.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,546,331 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $122,933,000 after acquiring an additional 630,264 shares during the period. 93.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CF. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on CF Industries from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on CF Industries from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of CF Industries from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of CF Industries from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CF Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.73.

CF Industries Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE CF opened at $85.80 on Tuesday. CF Industries has a one year low of $69.13 and a one year high of $87.82. The firm has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.95. 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) last posted 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. CF Industries had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that CF Industries will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CF Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. CF Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.