Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $111.47 and last traded at $110.6060, with a volume of 88810 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $110.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CNI. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens dropped their price target on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $100.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.915 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.59%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian National Railway

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $844,353,000 after acquiring an additional 8,954,310 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway in the 4th quarter valued at about $570,161,000. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,557,309,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210,403 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter worth about $189,748,000. Finally, Troy Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Canadian National Railway by 158.8% during the 3rd quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,738,372 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $258,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,223 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Canadian National Railway

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.