Brian Low Financial Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Brian Low Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,742,099 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,852,024,000 after acquiring an additional 3,003,542 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.5% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,939,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,505,303,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051,714 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 41,769,153 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,285,464,000 after purchasing an additional 4,805,451 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.8% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,581,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,304,267,000 after acquiring an additional 316,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,359,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $855,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,233 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Desjardins downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNQ opened at $32.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $68.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $32.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.93. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1-year low of $24.65 and a 1-year high of $35.12.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 14.90%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources Limited 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 Tuesday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.5875 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.2%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.