Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Upgraded by Zacks Research to “Hold” Rating

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

CNQ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Evercore cut Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

CNQ traded down $3.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,581,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,985,723. Canadian Natural Resources has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $51.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $44.25 and its 200-day moving average is $36.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $95.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 0.53.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.84% and a net margin of 24.48%.The business had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNQ. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 146,331,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,956,204,000 after purchasing an additional 35,067,143 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 179.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,616,347 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $393,213,000 after purchasing an additional 7,455,286 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 11,020.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,735 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $124,672,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647,636 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,359,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $855,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BCV Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 4th quarter worth $84,309,000. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

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.