Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Sets New 52-Week High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Canadian National Railway hit a new 52-week high of $113.25 (last $112.8050) on Thursday, with about 326,020 shares traded.
• Analyst coverage is mixed — Citi and Bank of America recently raised ratings/price targets, but the Street remains split (9 Buys, 10 Holds) with an average target of $119.14.
• Quarterly results showed an EPS beat ($1.49 vs. $1.43) but a revenue shortfall ($3.24B vs. $4.43B expected), and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.915 (annualized $3.66, yield 3.2%).

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR's stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $113.25 and last traded at $112.8050, with a volume of 326020 shares. The stock had previously closed at $109.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore dropped their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. 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. Vertical Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Canadian National Railway from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian National Railway has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $119.14.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $69.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $106.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.64.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.28% and a return on equity of 22.14%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $0.915 dividend. This is a positive change from Canadian National Railway's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Canadian National Railway's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC now owns 5,132 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 635 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Tacita Capital Inc lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 19,809 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 7,233 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.

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