Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ Shares Purchased by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 157,846 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,917 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $5,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the second quarter valued at $361,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,742,099 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,852,024,000 after purchasing an additional 3,003,542 shares during the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,458,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.8% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 316,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 9.9% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 89,973 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,825,000 after buying an additional 8,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CNQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Desjardins cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.50.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:CNQ opened at $36.53 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $38.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 0.68.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.5875 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $2.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Canadian Natural Resources 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.