Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 128,590,000 shares, an increase of 213.4% from the February 28th total of 41,030,000 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 18.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,372,718 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,855 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $112,763,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,686 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,834,264 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $260,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312,442 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $414,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224,548 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 63.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,233,388 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $273,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,198,007 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE CNQ opened at $30.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.16 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 1.48. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1-year low of $25.62 and a 1-year high of $41.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.39%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CNQ. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Tudor Pickering lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.00.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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).