Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Cut to Hold at UBS Group

UBS Group cut shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

CNI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Vertical Research upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. CIBC raised Canadian National Railway from a “neutral” rating to an “outperformer” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $146.00 to $151.00 in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Finally, Cibc Captl Mkts raised Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $98.95 on Monday. Canadian National Railway has a 1 year low of $90.74 and a 1 year high of $108.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business’s 50-day moving average is $98.37 and its 200-day moving average is $96.06. The company has a market capitalization of $60.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.94.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.06. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 22.14% and a net margin of 27.28%.The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.915 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 13.4% in the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 929 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc. lifted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 8,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 3.3% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 5.3% during the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,374 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

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.