Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.13.

A number of analysts have commented on CNQ shares. Raymond James upgraded Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Desjardins downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE CNQ opened at $32.93 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $70.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 1.52. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1-year low of $29.45 and a 1-year high of $41.29.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $7.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.19 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 21.98% and a net margin of 18.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.384 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.96%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 144,344,207 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,011,765,000 after acquiring an additional 684,532 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,813,537 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,343,849,000 after acquiring an additional 714,346 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 96.2% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 42,518,833 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,514,190,000 after acquiring an additional 20,843,193 shares in the last quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 95.9% in the 2nd quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 29,456,746 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,048,660,000 after acquiring an additional 14,418,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 23,340,567 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,529,146,000 after acquiring an additional 250,256 shares in the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).