Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Downgraded by Desjardins

Desjardins downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Canadian Natural Resources from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $94.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE CNQ opened at $77.32 on Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $52.66 and a 12 month high of $82.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $82.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.68.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 21.74% and a net margin of 20.15%. Research analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.774 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 19.2% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,324 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,833,000 after buying an additional 10,210 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.2% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,241,367 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $171,061,000 after buying an additional 48,472 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 307.0% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 49,633 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,788,000 after buying an additional 37,439 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.1% during the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 80,681 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $6,158,000 after buying an additional 5,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,732,000. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).