PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. Sells 151,810 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. reduced its stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 56.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 115,810 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 151,810 shares during the quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $3,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,742,099 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,852,024,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003,542 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,616,219 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,654,000 after purchasing an additional 43,356 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,716,038 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $54,883,000 after purchasing an additional 33,609 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 9.9% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 89,973 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 8,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 9.1% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,718,220 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,946,000 after purchasing an additional 143,550 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $45.75 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.37. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $47.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $95.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.63.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.84% and a net margin of 24.48%.The company had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CNQ. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore lowered Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 target price on Canadian Natural Resources and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

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.