Alberta Investment Management Corp Makes New Investment in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp bought 2,025,500 shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the fourth quarter, worth about $68.6 million, giving it roughly 0.10% ownership of the company.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and asset managers holding 74.03% of the stock. Several large investors, including Capital Research Global Investors and Vanguard, also increased their positions.
• Canadian Natural Resources recently beat earnings expectations and continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.625 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 5.7%.

Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,025,500 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $68,608,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp owned about 0.10% of Canadian Natural Resources as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 146,331,336 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $4,956,204,000 after acquiring an additional 35,067,143 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 93,305,198 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $3,160,340,000 after acquiring an additional 818,809 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 42,745,981 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,446,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342,954 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,518,621 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $710,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,347,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,308,539 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $484,344,000 after acquiring an additional 260,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Down 2.8%

CNQ opened at $44.04 on Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a fifty-two week low of $29.30 and a fifty-two week high of $51.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $91.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.39 and a 200-day moving average of $41.51.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 22.04%.The company had revenue of $7.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.63%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited NYSE: CNQ is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company's operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.

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