Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $125.26 and last traded at $125.6660, with a volume of 1332513 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $124.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CNI. Citigroup boosted their price target on Canadian National Railway from $124.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $113.88 to $117.36 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Stephens raised shares of Canadian National Railway to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Evercore raised Canadian National Railway from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.94.

Canadian National Railway Stock Up 1.0%

The company has a market cap of $76.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $116.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.73.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.85 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.72 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a $0.915 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is 48.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lincluden Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 4.1% in the third quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 434,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $40,717,000 after acquiring an additional 17,257 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the third quarter worth about $3,079,000. Scharf Investments LLC bought a new position in Canadian National Railway during the 4th quarter worth about $8,283,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Canadian National Railway during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,174,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Canadian National Railway by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,279,778 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $225,356,000 after purchasing an additional 216,963 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.