Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Announces Dividend Increase – C$0.59 Per Share

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be given a dividend of 0.5875 per share by the oil and gas producer on Tuesday, January 6th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This is a 37.6% increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Canadian Natural Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 24 consecutive years. Canadian Natural Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 71.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 $1.71 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.0%.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock traded down $0.41 on Thursday, hitting $31.47. The stock had a trading volume of 6,761,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,540,999. Canadian Natural Resources has a 52-week low of $24.65 and a 52-week high of $35.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $65.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.22.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.07. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 19.67% and a net margin of 19.00%.The business had revenue of $6.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 15,759 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,717,467 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $145,298,000 after buying an additional 279,696 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 124,950 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,798,000 after buying an additional 11,941 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter worth approximately $249,000. Finally, Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 183,854 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,619,000 after buying an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

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).