Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Raised to “Outperform” at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI – Get Rating) (TSE:CNR) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. Evercore ISI currently has $128.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on CNI. Raymond James lowered shares of Canadian National Railway from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. National Bank Financial dropped their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from C$172.00 to C$168.00 in a research report on Friday, April 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 19th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from C$165.00 to C$169.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 14th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 17th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $146.95.

CNI stock opened at $114.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $78.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.95. Canadian National Railway has a 52 week low of $100.66 and a 52 week high of $137.19.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI – Get Rating) (TSE:CNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 26th. The transportation company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.67 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 33.00% and a return on equity of 19.71%. Canadian National Railway’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.586 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 8th. This represents a $2.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. This is an increase from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is currently 42.10%.

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. TCI Fund Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 36,699,825 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,246,357,000 after purchasing an additional 6,592,022 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 41.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,888,814 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,804,457,000 after purchasing an additional 6,120,667 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,007,681 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,683,831,000 after purchasing an additional 554,280 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,423,818 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,934,812,000 after purchasing an additional 2,376,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 12,333,700 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,655,948,000 after purchasing an additional 625,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.92% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian National Railway (Get Rating)

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail and related transportation business. The company's portfolio of goods includes petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, coal, metals and minerals, forest products, intermodal, and automotive products serving exporters, importers, retailers, farmers, and manufacturers.

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