Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Desjardins downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Evercore ISI lowered Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.50.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNQ opened at $32.27 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $35.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $67.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.91 and its 200 day moving average is $31.91.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.5875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.3%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tacita Capital Inc boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 5,753 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Haven Private LLC raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Haven Private LLC now owns 11,617 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 32,283 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.2% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 17,886 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 9.4% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,939 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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.