Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,541 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,542,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 993.8% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 206,580 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $13,535,000 after buying an additional 187,694 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 556.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 96,338 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $6,312,000 after buying an additional 81,669 shares during the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 464,287 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $30,406,000 after buying an additional 15,546 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 130.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 158,407 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $10,292,000 after buying an additional 89,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 456,414 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $29,904,000 after buying an additional 44,568 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $77.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.20 and a 200 day moving average of $67.55. The firm has a market cap of $82.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.54. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 1 year low of $52.66 and a 1 year high of $82.58.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $7.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 20.15% and a return on equity of 21.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.774 dividend. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CNQ. Desjardins lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.00.

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).