Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

CNQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.50.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:CNQ opened at $36.53 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year high of $38.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.77 and its 200-day moving average is $32.32. The company has a market capitalization of $76.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.68.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 14.90%.The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources 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 was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $0.5875 per share. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.4%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 29,999 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,016,000 after buying an additional 4,171 shares in the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 91,670 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,024 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 33,714 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 145,811 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 25,199 shares during 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.