Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 100,814 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $6,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNQ. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $960,796,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 88.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,930,544 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $491,064,000 after purchasing an additional 3,716,523 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $2,493,796,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332,528 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 43.2% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,640,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $494,262,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305,000 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 9,297.9% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,192,895 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $143,284,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169,561 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CNQ traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $76.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,180,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,291,085. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $72.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a one year low of $52.66 and a one 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.13. The business 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%. Equities research analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.774 dividend. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 53.25%.

Canadian Natural Resources Profile

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).