Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Downgraded to “Hold” at Desjardins

Desjardins cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $94.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:CNQ opened at $77.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $82.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $73.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.68. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1 year low of $52.66 and a 1 year high of $82.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 21.74% and a net margin of 20.15%. As a group, analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources will post 5.7 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.774 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 19.2% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,324 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,833,000 after buying an additional 10,210 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.2% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,241,367 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $171,061,000 after purchasing an additional 48,472 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 307.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 49,633 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,788,000 after purchasing an additional 37,439 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 80,681 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,158,000 after acquiring an additional 5,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,732,000. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).