Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. Purchases New Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 22,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 85.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 8,336 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 92.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 29,096 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 13,996 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 79,374 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,445,000 after buying an additional 3,266 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 65.8% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,667 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CNQ shares. Evercore downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Desjardins downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

NYSE CNQ opened at $48.46 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.73. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $48.87. The stock has a market cap of $101.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.64 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.84% and a net margin of 24.48%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.53%.

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.