Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $118.9091.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore decreased their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Vertical Research raised Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group cut Canadian National Railway from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $151.00 in a report on Friday, November 28th.

Canadian National Railway Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE CNI opened at $101.41 on Monday. Canadian National Railway has a 52 week low of $90.74 and a 52 week high of $108.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $62.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $98.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.10.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.28% and a return on equity of 22.14%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.915 dividend. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 2.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,072,540 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,255,385,000 after buying an additional 273,974 shares during the period. Westerkirk Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,448,000. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 802,257 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $83,646,000 after purchasing an additional 71,364 shares during the last quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 83,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,834,000 after purchasing an additional 15,715 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 1.5% in the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 742,230 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $70,038,000 after purchasing an additional 10,880 shares during the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.