Sanford C. Bernstein Issues Positive Forecast for Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Stock Price

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) had its price objective increased by Sanford C. Bernstein from $113.88 to $117.36 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CNI. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Vertical Research upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Evercore dropped their price target on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.70.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

Shares of Canadian National Railway stock opened at $102.71 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $104.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Canadian National Railway has a 52 week low of $90.74 and a 52 week high of $113.08.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.28% and a return on equity of 22.14%. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Canadian National Railway’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.915 per share. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is 49.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,646,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,437,679,000 after buying an additional 346,670 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,557,309,000 after buying an additional 5,210,403 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,201,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,338,948,000 after acquiring an additional 42,907 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 1.1% during the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 13,894,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,310,600,000 after acquiring an additional 157,000 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $889,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,106 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.