Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives $51.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Desjardins raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNQ opened at $33.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $70.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 1.50. Canadian Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $29.45 and a 12 month high of $41.29.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $7.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.40 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 20.07% and a net margin of 18.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.388 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.55 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.65%. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 60.58%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNQ. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 144,344,207 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $11,011,765,000 after acquiring an additional 684,532 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,813,537 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $3,343,849,000 after purchasing an additional 714,346 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 43,581,024 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,447,326,000 after buying an additional 1,651,452 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 96.2% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 42,518,833 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,514,190,000 after buying an additional 20,843,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 93.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 41,464,502 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,476,644,000 after buying an additional 19,980,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

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).