Canadian National Railway Company $CNI Shares Sold by Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.

Key Points

• Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel cut its stake in Canadian National by 3.0%, selling 15,454 shares and leaving it with 505,300 shares (about $47.7M), while institutional investors collectively own 80.74% of the company and several large funds (Vanguard, Manulife, BMO, Fiera, Arrowstreet) increased their positions.
• Analysts are mixed but cautious — the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $118.91 after several firms trimmed targets or ratings.
• CN raised its quarterly dividend to $0.915 (annualized $3.66, yield ~3.4%), and recently reported EPS of $1.49 beating estimates while quarterly revenue of $3.24B missed expectations.

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in shares of Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI - Free Report) TSE: CNR by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 505,300 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 15,454 shares during the period. Canadian National Railway makes up approximately 1.7% of Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.08% of Canadian National Railway worth $47,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,300,252 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $2,291,562,000 after buying an additional 372,859 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,201,675 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,338,948,000 after buying an additional 42,907 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 26.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,705,679 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $695,048,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408,978 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 11.6% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 6,471,710 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $610,076,000 after acquiring an additional 671,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 20.1% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,296,828 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $655,768,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,977 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore decreased their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group downgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNI opened at $108.04 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $66.24 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.90. Canadian National Railway Company has a 12 month low of $90.74 and a 12 month high of $113.08.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR last announced 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 business had revenue of $3.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.28% and a return on equity of 22.14%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.915 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Canadian National Railway's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.59%.

Canadian National Railway 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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