Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,620,000 shares, a drop of 93.0% from the December 31st total of 109,510,000 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 83.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 4,709 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 119.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 29,774 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 16,182 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 114.9% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 57,522 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,048,000 after buying an additional 30,758 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the second quarter worth $276,000. Finally, Scientech Research LLC bought a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $243,000. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CNQ traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.43. The company had a trading volume of 4,563,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,530,875. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.79. Canadian Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $29.23 and a 12 month high of $41.29. The stock has a market cap of $63.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.30. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 20.07% and a net margin of 18.45%. The firm had revenue of $7.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Desjardins upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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).