Canadian Natural Resources’ (CNQ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $63.00 target price on the oil and gas producer’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on CNQ. Tudor Pickering downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

CNQ opened at $30.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $64.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.99 and a 200-day moving average of $32.16. Canadian Natural Resources has a 52-week low of $25.62 and a 52-week high of $41.29.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a $0.4117 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.32%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 77.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $2,857,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,372,718 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,855 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $112,763,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,686 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 73.3% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,834,264 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $260,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312,442 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,224,548 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 63.5% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,233,388 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $273,417,000 after buying an additional 3,198,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

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).