Barometer Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 127,200 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,198,000. Canadian Natural Resources comprises about 2.6% of Barometer Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LOM Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNQ shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank raised Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Zacks Research lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of CNQ opened at $44.88 on Wednesday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a one year low of $29.30 and a one year high of $51.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $93.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40 and a beta of 0.47.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 22.04%.The company had revenue of $7.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.03%.

Canadian Natural Resources Profile

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.