Marshall Financial Group LLC Makes New $869,000 Investment in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 25,678 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $869,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 85.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 8,336 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 92.7% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 29,096 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 13,996 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 79,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after buying an additional 3,266 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 25.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 122,063 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 25,092 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Down 3.0%

NYSE CNQ opened at $49.05 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.96 and its 200 day moving average is $35.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12 month low of $24.65 and a 12 month high of $51.34. The stock has a market cap of $102.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29 and a beta of 0.62.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 17.84%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Research analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.625 per share. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNQ shares. Evercore downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Desjardins cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.00.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.