Capital Research Global Investors Cuts Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Capital Research Global Investors cut its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 96,769,104 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 5,017,865 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 4.60% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $2,987,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 7,372,718 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,600,686 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $414,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,708,163 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $400,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $136,994,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI raised Canadian Natural Resources from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $29.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,695,109 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,311,444. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $39.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's 50 day moving average is $28.95 and its 200 day moving average is $31.43.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This represents a $1.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.64%. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

Canadian Natural Resources 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).