Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.41

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.4117 per share by the oil and gas producer on Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is a 6.1% increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Canadian Natural Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 28.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Canadian Natural Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 58.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Canadian Natural Resources to earn $2.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.1%.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $28.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $30.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.71. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $25.62 and a twelve month high of $41.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CNQ shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Tudor Pickering downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

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).