Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $35.85 and last traded at $35.8630, with a volume of 1901441 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $34.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 price objective on Canadian Natural Resources and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Evercore ISI downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Desjardins lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.50.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.00. The company has a market cap of $74.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.69.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.08. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 14.90%.The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $0.5875 per share. This represents a $2.35 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNQ. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $361,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 3.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,742,099 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,852,024,000 after buying an additional 3,003,542 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $2,458,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 0.8% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 41,581,125 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,304,267,000 after buying an additional 316,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 2,370,885 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $74,446,000 after acquiring an additional 235,198 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Canadian Natural Resources Company 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.