Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ – Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 161,774 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 4,432 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $8,940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,235,475 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,493,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332,528 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 32.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,845,541 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,102,057,000 after purchasing an additional 4,897,414 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 36.6% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 17,233,139 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $953,143,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618,176 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 7.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 16,898,161 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $935,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the first quarter worth $960,796,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.88% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts recently issued reports on CNQ shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. National Bank Financial cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.50.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on CNQ
Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.3 %
Shares of NYSE CNQ opened at $64.24 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.41. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52-week low of $44.45 and a 52-week high of $65.03. The firm has a market cap of $70.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.
Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ – Get Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $5.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 18.14%. Equities analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 4.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.6744 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of…
Read More: Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Canadian Natural Resources