Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 983,892 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 11.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,614,291 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 983,892 shares during the period. Canadian Natural Resources makes up about 1.0% of Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $307,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 309.1% during the second quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 896 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC bought a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the third quarter worth $32,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% during 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 buying an additional 528 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3,182.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNQ. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price 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. 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 set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. ATB Cormark Capital Markets cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 3.4%

NYSE CNQ opened at $47.26 on Thursday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12 month low of $24.65 and a 12 month high of $47.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.46. The stock has a market cap of $98.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a $0.625 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 45.53%.

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.