Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.00.

CNQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Evercore downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE CNQ opened at $49.05 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources has a fifty-two week low of $24.65 and a fifty-two week high of $51.34. The stock has a market cap of $102.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.96 and a 200-day moving average of $35.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNQ. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

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.