Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $109.90 and last traded at $108.4330, with a volume of 96096 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $107.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CNI shares. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Canadian National Railway from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $66.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.56.

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

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.915 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,646,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,437,679,000 after buying an additional 346,670 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,201,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,338,948,000 after acquiring an additional 42,907 shares during the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 1.1% during the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 13,894,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,310,600,000 after purchasing an additional 157,000 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Canadian National Railway by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $889,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 639,137.0% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,955,711 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $844,353,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,310 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Canadian National Railway Company 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.