First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 34,314 Shares of Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 409,077 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,314 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.07% of Canadian National Railway worth $38,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNI. Norges Bank bought a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 2nd quarter worth $591,904,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter valued at about $189,748,000. Troy Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 158.8% during the 3rd quarter. Troy Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,738,372 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $258,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680,223 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 26.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,705,679 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $695,048,000 after buying an additional 1,408,978 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Canadian National Railway by 20.1% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,296,828 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $655,768,000 after buying an additional 1,051,977 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE CNI opened at $103.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $103.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.46. Canadian National Railway Company has a 52-week low of $90.74 and a 52-week high of $113.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $63.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and raised their target price for the company from $146.00 to $151.00 in a research note on Friday, November 28th. UBS Group lowered Canadian National Railway from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.91.

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.