Value Partners Investments Inc. Grows Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 55.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,564 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after acquiring an additional 15,148 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $1,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,372,718 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% during the fourth 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. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 139,203 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $4,297,000 after acquiring an additional 11,296 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $267,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $414,223,000 after buying an additional 3,224,548 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CNQ shares. Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $31.45. The stock had a trading volume of 7,307,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,780,955. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year high of $37.91.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 20.90% and a net margin of 16.92%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.4227 dividend. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.38%. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Canadian Natural Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.06%.

Canadian Natural Resources Profile

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).