Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CNQ. Tudor Pickering cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNQ opened at $27.18 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.29 and its 200-day moving average is $31.73. Canadian Natural Resources has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $41.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a $0.4117 dividend. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNQ. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,372,718 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 595.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 5,982 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $9,151,000 after buying an additional 17,694 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,109,432 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $746,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270,945 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% in 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. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).