Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives $62.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.00.

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNQ. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, July 11th.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 2,183,598 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $67,201,000 after buying an additional 470,391 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 49,307 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 14,561 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 594.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 133,501 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,112,000 after acquiring an additional 114,287 shares in the last quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter valued at $3,697,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter valued at $757,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 1.0%

CNQ opened at $32.35 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $37.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 1.03.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.97 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 19.00% and a return on equity of 19.67%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.4269 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 19th. This represents a $1.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 60.64%.

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).