Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to Outperform Rating

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Tudor Pickering downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CNQ opened at $28.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.71. Canadian Natural Resources has a fifty-two week low of $25.62 and a fifty-two week high of $41.29. The company has a market cap of $59.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.48.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.65 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNQ. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,857,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,855 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $112,763,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600,686 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,834,264 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $260,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,312,442 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $414,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224,548 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 63.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,233,388 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $273,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198,007 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).