Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

Key Points

• Stokes Capital Advisors sharply reduced its Canadian National Railway position, cutting holdings by 93.8% in the first quarter and leaving it with 2,550 shares worth about $262,000.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors controlling about 80.74% of the company; several firms significantly increased their stakes during recent quarters.
• Canadian National Railway met earnings expectations in its latest quarter with EPS of $1.31 on revenue of $3.15 billion, and it also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.915 per share for a 3.0% annualized yield.

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI - Free Report) TSE: CNR by 93.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,550 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 38,340 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Canadian National Railway by 639,137.0% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,955,711 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $844,353,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,310 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the fourth quarter worth about $570,161,000. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,557,309,000 after buying an additional 5,210,403 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1,693.5% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 1,739,700 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $164,043,000 after buying an additional 1,642,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Canadian National Railway by 6,329.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,030 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $122,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,836 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CNI. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $113.88 to $117.36 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. National Bank Financial set a $124.00 target price on Canadian National Railway in a report on Thursday. Evercore upgraded Canadian National Railway from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $124.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price target on Canadian National Railway from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian National Railway has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $126.12.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $120.33 on Friday. Canadian National Railway Company has a 52 week low of $90.74 and a 52 week high of $122.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.89. The company has a market cap of $73.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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

Canadian National Railway Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.915 per share. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. Canadian National Railway's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.55%.

About Canadian National Railway

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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