ARS Investment Partners LLC Trims Position in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

ARS Investment Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 5,477 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $1,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNI. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its position in Canadian National Railway by 2.2% during the second quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 4,796 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 929 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,374 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 6,629 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CNI shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Canadian National Railway from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $106.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.36.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Canadian National Railway stock opened at $98.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $95.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.60. Canadian National Railway Company has a 1 year low of $90.74 and a 1 year high of $108.75.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The transportation company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.05. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 26.86% and a return on equity of 21.50%. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be issued a $0.8875 dividend. This represents a $3.55 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 9th. This is a positive change from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 48.01%.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.