Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $118.9091.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens lowered their target price on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Vertical Research upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note on Monday, February 2nd.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

NYSE:CNI opened at $100.77 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $103.89 and its 200 day moving average is $98.74. Canadian National Railway has a 12 month low of $90.74 and a 12 month high of $113.08. The company has a market capitalization of $61.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.915 dividend. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 49.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,646,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,437,679,000 after purchasing an additional 346,670 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,557,309,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210,403 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,201,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,338,948,000 after buying an additional 42,907 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 13,894,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,310,600,000 after buying an additional 157,000 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Canadian National Railway by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $889,462,000 after buying an additional 1,182,106 shares during the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Canadian National Railway

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.