Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 253,824 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. sold 253,824 shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited, reducing its stake to 6,946,275 shares, valued at approximately $213.9 million, which is a decrease of 3.5% in their holdings.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Canadian Natural Resources, with T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raising its stake by 29.1%, now holding 43,968,120 shares valued at $1.35 billion.
• Canadian Natural Resources recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.4269 per share, providing a dividend yield of 5.5% and reflecting a positive change from the previous quarter's dividend.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,946,275 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 253,824 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.33% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $213,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CNQ. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,968,120 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,354,219,000 after buying an additional 9,915,345 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 67.8% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 161,713 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,981,000 after buying an additional 65,321 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,936,275 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $336,807,000 after buying an additional 146,121 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 2,930,646 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $90,211,000 after buying an additional 54,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,292,073 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $101,396,000 after buying an additional 217,152 shares in the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, August 8th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $62.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 3.1%

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $31.1050 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $64.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year high of $37.91. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $31.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.31.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.97 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 19.00% and a return on equity of 19.67%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.4269 per share. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 19th. This represents a $1.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Canadian Natural Resources's payout ratio is currently 60.64%.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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).

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