Two Sigma Advisers LP Decreases Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Two Sigma Advisers LP lowered its stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 783,658 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 184,300 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP's holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $24,192,000 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. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $2,857,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 595.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 17,694 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,109,432 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $746,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $136,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CNQ. Raymond James upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Tudor Pickering downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

NYSE:CNQ traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,855,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,530,596. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 1.04. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a one year low of $24.65 and a one year high of $38.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 20.07% and a net margin of 18.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.4227 dividend. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.45%. Canadian Natural Resources's payout ratio is presently 63.92%.

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).