Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CF Industries (NYSE:CF) Stock

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) had its price target upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.53% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on CF Industries from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. 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. Scotiabank lifted 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of CF Industries from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of CF Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CF Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.08.

CF Industries Stock Performance

Shares of CF stock opened at $86.56 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average of $78.49. CF Industries has a 1 year low of $69.13 and a 1 year high of $90.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.97.

CF Industries (NYSE:CF) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that CF Industries will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total value of $648,234.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,211 shares in the company, valued at $2,629,574.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Ashraf K. Malik sold 7,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.02, for a total transaction of $648,234.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,629,574.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Susan L. Menzel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $180,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,268 shares in the company, valued at $5,964,120. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in CF Industries by 4.5% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of CF Industries by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,089 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of CF Industries by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in CF Industries by 28.1% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in CF Industries by 40.4% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.06% of the company’s stock.

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.