Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 27,474 Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 27,474 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $848,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,372,718 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,002,235 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,778,729,000 after purchasing an additional 456,814 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 44,131,266 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,362,332,000 after purchasing an additional 550,242 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 36,963,702 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,139,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,052,775 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,051,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,437 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 2.1%

CNQ stock opened at $31.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.77. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $38.86. The company has a market capitalization of $66.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 1.04.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 20.07%. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.4227 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.36%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.92%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on CNQ shares. Tudor Pickering downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources 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).