Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $118.9091.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNI. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd.

Canadian National Railway Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CNI opened at $110.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $67.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.94. Canadian National Railway has a 1 year low of $90.74 and a 1 year high of $111.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.42.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. Canadian National Railway’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.915 dividend. This is an increase from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MidFirst Bank acquired a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Ruggaard & Associates LLC raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 3,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 3,595 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Canadian National Railway by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,089,190 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $107,666,000 after buying an additional 216,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 11,419 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by 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.