Costello Asset Management INC Boosts Stock Position in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

Key Points

• Costello Asset Management dramatically increased its stake in Canadian National Railway, boosting holdings by 11,790.9% in Q1 to 39,240 shares valued at about $4.0 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus on CNI, with an average price target of $129.94 after several firms raised targets or issued positive ratings.
• Canadian National Railway reported quarterly EPS of $1.31, matching estimates, and continues to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.915 per share, for an annualized yield of about 2.9%.

Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI - Free Report) TSE: CNR by 11,790.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,240 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 38,910 shares during the period. Canadian National Railway makes up about 1.4% of Costello Asset Management INC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Costello Asset Management INC's holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $4,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lincluden Management Ltd. grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 434,344 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $40,717,000 after purchasing an additional 17,257 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Canadian National Railway during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,079,000. Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new position in Canadian National Railway in the fourth quarter worth about $8,283,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Canadian National Railway in the third quarter worth about $32,174,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,279,778 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $225,356,000 after buying an additional 216,963 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Canadian National Railway from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $99.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens upgraded Canadian National Railway to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on Canadian National Railway from C$182.00 to C$185.00 and gave the stock an "outperformer" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $129.94.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

CNI opened at $124.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.96. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $116.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.65. Canadian National Railway Company has a 52-week low of $90.74 and a 52-week high of $125.26.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI - Get Free Report) TSE: CNR last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.75 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th were issued a $0.915 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Canadian National Railway's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.55%.

Canadian National Railway Company 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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