Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. ATB Cormark Capital Markets downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Raymond James Financial raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNQ. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 85.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 8,336 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 92.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 29,096 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 13,996 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 79,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,445,000 after acquiring an additional 3,266 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 65.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,786 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.9%

CNQ stock opened at $47.99 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $29.30 and a twelve month high of $51.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $99.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.34.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 22.04%.The firm had revenue of $7.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources will post 4.09 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

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.