Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. Takes Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 22,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CNQ. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC purchased a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 3,182.7% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.3%

CNQ opened at $49.11 on Thursday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12 month low of $24.65 and a 12 month high of $49.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.63.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 17.84%. The company had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.625 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Desjardins downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Evercore downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.00.

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.