Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. ATB Cormark Capital Markets downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:CNQ opened at $44.72 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $93.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.98. Canadian Natural Resources has a fifty-two week low of $29.30 and a fifty-two week high of $51.34.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 17.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 146,331,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,956,204,000 after buying an additional 35,067,143 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,305,198 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $3,160,340,000 after buying an additional 818,809 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 42,745,981 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,446,951,000 after buying an additional 1,342,954 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 37,457,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,826,578,000 after buying an additional 3,397,500 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 1st quarter worth $1,411,619,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.