Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 30,525 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 11.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 309,001 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 30,525 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $9,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 158.3% during the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 997 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 104.0% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 317.1% in the second quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 1,710 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNQ has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CNQ opened at $32.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $37.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.97.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.97 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 19.00%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were issued a $0.4269 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.64%.

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).