Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ Shares Purchased by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,545,271 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 178,121 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.12% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $86,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,616,219 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,654,000 after acquiring an additional 43,356 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,758,445 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $228,729,000 after acquiring an additional 315,460 shares during the last quarter. SCP Investment LP acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources during the third quarter worth about $1,144,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $869,000. Finally, Numerai GP LLC boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 102.5% during the third quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 77,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,466,000 after acquiring an additional 39,049 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $46.37 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.10. The company has a market capitalization of $96.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84 and a beta of 0.45. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1 year low of $29.30 and a 1 year high of $51.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $7.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.03%.

Canadian Natural Resources 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.