First Merchants Corp Cuts Position in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

First Merchants Corp decreased its holdings in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,774 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,165,939 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,254,370,000 after acquiring an additional 179,261 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 0.3% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,798,566 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,148,008,000 after acquiring an additional 30,066 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 6.0% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,243,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,095,793,000 after acquiring an additional 636,147 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 6.3% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,571,806 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $834,129,000 after acquiring an additional 505,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 20.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,638,443 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $646,983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148,569 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CNI shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $106.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $117.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $124.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.30.

Canadian National Railway Stock Down 0.9%

CNI stock opened at $95.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Canadian National Railway Company has a twelve month low of $91.07 and a twelve month high of $116.79.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.34 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 21.71% and a net margin of 26.63%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.6507 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.19%.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks.