Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ's stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $32.70, but opened at $34.00. Canadian Natural Resources shares last traded at $33.50, with a volume of 2,508,327 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CNQ shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Scotiabank raised Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 2.0%

The company has a market cap of $70.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.91 and a 200 day moving average of $30.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 20.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.4227 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNQ. FMR LLC grew its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 595.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,109,432 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $746,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,945 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $136,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064,492 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 139,203 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,297,000 after buying an additional 11,296 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).