Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $57.00.

CNQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.4%

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $49.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.70. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $51.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid 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 is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.59%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNQ. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 85.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 8,336 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 92.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 29,096 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $896,000 after buying an additional 13,996 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 79,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,445,000 after buying an additional 3,266 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 25.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 122,063 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 25,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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.