Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ Shares Bought by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 540,570 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,406 shares during the quarter. Canadian Natural Resources comprises 1.4% of Verity & Verity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $18,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 488,289 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $16,568,000 after acquiring an additional 51,555 shares during the period. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 15,275.9% in the 4th quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 615,035 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $20,880,000 after acquiring an additional 611,035 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 4th quarter worth about $1,185,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 155,450 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $5,262,000 after acquiring an additional 27,013 shares during the period. Finally, Unified Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Unified Investment Management now owns 10,651 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNQ. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

Shares of CNQ opened at $45.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52-week low of $29.30 and a 52-week high of $51.34.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.57 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 17.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.93%.

Canadian Natural Resources Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.