Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Receives $57.00 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $57.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CNQ. Desjardins upgraded Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.7% during the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 15,199 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Ted Buchan & Co boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 43,814 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. now owns 10,312 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 93,840 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,573,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 15.4% in the second quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,202 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $46.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 0.47. Canadian Natural Resources has a 52-week low of $29.30 and a 52-week high of $51.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 17.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.03%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.