Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives $49.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.50.

CNQ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Desjardins raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNQ. Park Place Capital Corp raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% during the second quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 716 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 98.3% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 710 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 728 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 91.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 868 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 104.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 874 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

CNQ opened at $35.71 on Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $29.45 and a twelve month high of $41.29. The firm has a market cap of $75.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.10.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.26. The business 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 22.09% and a net margin of 18.05%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.388 per share. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.55 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is presently 66.14%.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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).