TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Key Points

• TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.9% in Q4 to 6,758,445 shares (an additional 315,460 shares), representing 1.4% of TD Waterhouse's portfolio and about 0.32% of CNQ worth ~$228.7M.
• Canadian Natural beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $0.59 (vs. $0.53) on $6.89B revenue and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.625 (annualized $2.50), implying a ~5.8% yield.
• Institutional ownership is high at 74.03% (large holders include Vanguard and Massachusetts Financial Services), and analysts hold a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $57.00.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,758,445 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after purchasing an additional 315,460 shares during the period. Canadian Natural Resources accounts for 1.4% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned about 0.32% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $228,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CNQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 179.2% in the fourth 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.9% in the third 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 17.6% in the third 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 period. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 17.4% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 8,372,021 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $267,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242,197 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 11.4% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 9,614,291 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $307,344,000 after purchasing an additional 983,892 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets cut Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut Canadian Natural Resources from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $42.93 on Monday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $27.93 and a twelve month high of $51.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business's fifty day moving average price is $45.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.55.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.06. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.84% and a net margin of 24.48%.The firm had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. Canadian Natural Resources's payout ratio is presently 49.59%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company 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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