Inspire Trust Co. N.A. Purchases Shares of 35,000 Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Key Points

• Inspire Trust Co. N.A. bought a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources, purchasing 35,000 shares valued at about $1.185 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 74.03% of the company’s stock. Several large firms also increased their CNQ positions during the period.
• Analysts currently rate CNQ a Moderate Buy on average with a $57 price target, while the company also reported solid quarterly results and declared a $0.625 quarterly dividend yielding about 5.5%.

Inspire Trust Co. N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 35,000 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock, valued at approximately $1,185,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 179.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,616,347 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $393,213,000 after purchasing an additional 7,455,286 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,486,389 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,957,252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744,290 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,172,873 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $293,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371,122 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $710,119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $1,446,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342,954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:CNQ opened at $45.86 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $47.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $29.30 and a twelve month high of $51.34.

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

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Canadian Natural Resources 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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