Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.50.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNQ. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 price target on Canadian Natural Resources and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Desjardins downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

CNQ opened at $37.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.44. Canadian Natural Resources has a one year low of $24.65 and a one year high of $38.73.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 14.90%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,305,198 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,160,340,000 after buying an additional 818,809 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,939,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,505,303,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051,714 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,581,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,304,267,000 after acquiring an additional 316,933 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.3% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,359,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $855,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,233 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 19.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,146,792 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $548,214,000 after purchasing an additional 2,832,155 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.