Murchinson Ltd. Purchases Shares of 2,056 Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)

Murchinson Ltd. bought a new stake in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,056 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNI. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 29.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 92,300 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,820,000 after purchasing an additional 21,100 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,962,972 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $464,002,000 after buying an additional 202,303 shares during the period. Partners Group Holding AG raised its position in Canadian National Railway by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 406,066 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $47,571,000 after buying an additional 56,849 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Canadian National Railway during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $134,096,000. Finally, Sterling Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 36,279 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,250,000 after acquiring an additional 5,329 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Veritas upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America cut shares of Canadian National Railway from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $129.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.86.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNI opened at $109.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.89. Canadian National Railway has a 52 week low of $105.28 and a 52 week high of $134.02.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 23.62%. Canadian National Railway’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.6108 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. 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.