Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 22,496 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 5,524% compared to the average daily volume of 400 call options.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $105.07 on Tuesday. Canadian National Railway has a 1-year low of $90.74 and a 1-year high of $113.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $104.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.32. The company has a market capitalization of $64.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.915 per share. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. 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 payout ratio is 49.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 5,132 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 635 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 19,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 7,233 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 10.1% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

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.