Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $125.26 and last traded at $125.6660, with a volume of 1332513 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $124.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens upgraded Canadian National Railway to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Evercore upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $124.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.12.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $75.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $117.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.10.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.915 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 48.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Canadian National Railway during the first quarter worth about $311,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 52.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,094 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

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.