Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $54.01 and last traded at $53.9450, with a volume of 171,198 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CNQ shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Down 0.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $110.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.40 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 23.91% and a net margin of 22.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were given a C$0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 37,457,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,826,578,000 after purchasing an additional 3,397,500 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the first quarter valued at $1,411,619,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 16,459,772 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $784,278,000 after purchasing an additional 223,444 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 8,238,632 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $325,426,000 after acquiring an additional 244,205 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 26.7% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,011,862 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $341,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475,500 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production, marketing and sale of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its portfolio includes conventional and unconventional petroleum assets, heavy crude oil operations, and oil sands projects that produce bitumen and synthetic crude oil.

The company’s principal operations are located in Western Canada, including oil sands and conventional assets in Alberta and natural gas properties in Alberta and British Columbia.