Wexford Capital LP Sells 257,110 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Wexford Capital LP lowered its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 87.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,280 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 257,110 shares during the quarter. Wexford Capital LP's holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $1,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $2,857,337,000 after buying an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 5,982 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $9,151,000 after buying an additional 17,694 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,270,945 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 buying an additional 2,064,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNQ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tudor Pickering cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE CNQ traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,855,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,530,596. The stock has a market cap of $64.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a one year low of $24.65 and a one year high of $38.86. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $29.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.60.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 20.07%. The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.4227 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.92%.

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).