New Century Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 10.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,073 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 488 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $134,096,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $627,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,451,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,321,000. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 52.6% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 30,442 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,836,000 after acquiring an additional 10,496 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CNI. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $133.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America downgraded Canadian National Railway from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Canadian National Railway from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on 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. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Canadian National Railway in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $126.02.

Canadian National Railway Stock Down 0.7 %

CNI stock opened at $113.62 on Monday. Canadian National Railway has a one year low of $103.96 and a one year high of $134.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $115.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.09). Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 32.00% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The company had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.5 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.614 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.26%.

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.