Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Grows Holdings in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 14.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,146 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,600 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $13,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway in the second quarter valued at approximately $591,904,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway in the 2nd quarter worth $189,748,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,705,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $695,048,000 after buying an additional 1,408,978 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 20.1% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,296,828 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $655,768,000 after buying an additional 1,051,977 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 31.9% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,220,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $440,008,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Canadian National Railway Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Canadian National Railway stock opened at $107.32 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.94. Canadian National Railway Company has a 12-month low of $90.74 and a 12-month high of $108.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.28% and a return on equity of 22.14%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.915 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNI shares. Vertical Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research raised Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Profile

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.