Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Stock Price Down 7.6% – Here’s What Happened

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) shares dropped 7.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $42.68 and last traded at $42.7940. Approximately 2,054,676 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 10,913,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. ATB Cormark Capital Markets downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Evercore lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 7.8%

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.40. The company has a market capitalization of $89.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.64 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.84% and a net margin of 24.48%.During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is presently 49.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,616,219 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,654,000 after acquiring an additional 43,356 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,716,038 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,883,000 after purchasing an additional 33,609 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 9.1% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,718,220 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $54,946,000 after purchasing an additional 143,550 shares during the last quarter. SCP Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the third quarter worth about $1,144,000. Finally, Numerai GP LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 102.5% during the third quarter. Numerai GP LLC now owns 77,164 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,466,000 after purchasing an additional 39,049 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.