Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $98.96 and last traded at $101.11, with a volume of 265296 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $101.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CNI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.67 to $126.29 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Canadian National Railway from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised Canadian National Railway from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.86.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.89.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 23.62% and a net margin of 31.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway will post 5.31 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.6108 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 38.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 43.3% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 15,552 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 4,698 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA raised its stake in Canadian National Railway by 363.6% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 153,880 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $18,012,000 after buying an additional 120,687 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Canadian National Railway by 29.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 92,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,820,000 after buying an additional 21,100 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 5.4% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,962,972 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $464,002,000 after acquiring an additional 202,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 16.3% in the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 406,066 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $47,571,000 after acquiring an additional 56,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks.