Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys Shares of 7,552 Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)

Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 7,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 63.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,623,561 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $957,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,951,506 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 92.4% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,505,860 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $593,911,000 after buying an additional 2,163,820 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,868,740 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,761,473,000 after buying an additional 1,907,938 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 4,614.6% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,336,027 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $157,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in Canadian National Railway by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,189,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,412,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280,726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNI. National Bank Financial raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $132.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Canadian National Railway from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $146.25 to $130.67 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.24.

Canadian National Railway Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CNI opened at $116.78 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.63. Canadian National Railway has a 52-week low of $103.96 and a 52-week high of $134.02. The company has a market capitalization of $73.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.88.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.40 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 32.00% and a return on equity of 23.58%. Canadian National Railway’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.614 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.08%.

Canadian National Railway Profile

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks.