Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday. The stock traded as high as $55.50 and last traded at $54.5190, with a volume of 6,518,681 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNQ has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Monday, October 19th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.82. The company has a market cap of $113.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.56 and a beta of 0.53.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $14.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.40 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.78% and a return on equity of 23.91%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.10 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were given a dividend of C$0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Wealth Services raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.3% in the third quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 198,359 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,337,000 after buying an additional 4,554 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6.7% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,127 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 280.7% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 552 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6.4% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 54,221 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,552,000 after buying an additional 3,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

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.