Canadian Natural Resources’ (CNQ) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $63.00 price target on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on CNQ. Scotiabank raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI raised Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Tudor Pickering cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of CNQ stock opened at $30.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.16. Canadian Natural Resources has a one year low of $25.62 and a one year high of $41.29. The firm has a market cap of $64.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.48.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 77.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,700,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 595.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 5,982 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 17,694 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,109,432 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $746,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).