Polar Capital Holdings Plc Cuts Stock Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc reduced its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ - Free Report) TSE: CNQ by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 261,513 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 98,759 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc's holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $8,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNQ. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,002,235 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $2,778,729,000 after purchasing an additional 456,814 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 44,131,266 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $1,362,332,000 after purchasing an additional 550,242 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 36,963,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,139,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,052,775 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $1,051,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312,437 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Tudor Pickering cut Canadian Natural Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James raised Canadian Natural Resources from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.5%

Canadian Natural Resources stock traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.72. The stock had a trading volume of 7,258,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,988,810. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $64.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93 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 50-day moving average price of $29.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.65.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ - Get Free Report) TSE: CNQ last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.4227 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. Canadian Natural Resources's payout ratio is 63.92%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company 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).