Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) shares saw strong trading volume on Monday . 5,135,302 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 222% from the previous session’s volume of 1,596,689 shares.The stock last traded at $120.74 and had previously closed at $120.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Canadian National Railway from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Canadian National Railway from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Canadian National Railway from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Canadian National Railway from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.04.

Canadian National Railway Trading Down 0.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.07.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.31. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 27.22%.The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be paid a $0.915 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 48.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNI. High Point Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 83.3% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 330 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 378.4% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 354 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.