TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Sells 223,928 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lowered its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,442,985 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 223,928 shares during the period. Canadian Natural Resources accounts for approximately 1.3% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $203,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 309.1% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 896 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CNQ. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Desjardins downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Zacks Research cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.50.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $37.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $37.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.18.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a $0.5875 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is 74.34%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

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.