Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $122.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $117.00.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut 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. Stephens decreased their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group downgraded Canadian National Railway from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore decreased their price objective 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.76.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

Shares of CNI opened at $110.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Canadian National Railway has a one year low of $90.74 and a one year high of $113.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.09 and a 200 day moving average of $99.54.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. Canadian National Railway’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.915 dividend. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase 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%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNI. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the first quarter worth about $311,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 11.1% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the second quarter worth about $202,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 45.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 749,116 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $77,938,000 after purchasing an additional 235,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 52.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,118 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

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.