Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Canadian National Railway has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 17 analysts, with nine buys and eight holds. The average 12-month price target is $137.40, above the recent share price of $128.38.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting $1.50 in adjusted EPS versus the $1.39 consensus and revenue of $3.35 billion, up 11.3% year over year. Analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $5.81.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 80.74%, while Canadian National Railway declared a quarterly dividend of $0.915 per share, equivalent to an annualized $3.66 payout and a 2.9% yield.

Shares of Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $137.3964.

CNI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Evercore upgraded Canadian National Railway from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $124.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on Canadian National Railway in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on Canadian National Railway from $124.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Stephens raised Canadian National Railway to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNI. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 639,137.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,955,711 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $844,353,000 after buying an additional 8,954,310 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Canadian National Railway during the fourth quarter valued at about $570,161,000. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,557,309,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210,403 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 6,329.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,030 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $122,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $889,462,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,106 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $128.38 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $123.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.49. Canadian National Railway has a twelve month low of $90.74 and a twelve month high of $131.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.95.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 22.22%. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.81 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.915 per share. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Canadian National Railway's payout ratio is presently 47.34%.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

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.

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