Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 67.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,569 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after selling 5,423 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 75,338 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 22,250 shares during the period. Conning Inc. boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 31,261 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,048,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,400 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 1,764 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 9,297.9% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,169,561 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQ Advisors LLC boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQ Advisors LLC now owns 8,090 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 1,763 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $101.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of CNQ opened at $76.84 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $52.66 and a twelve month high of $82.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.13. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 20.15% and a return on equity of 21.74%. The business had revenue of $7.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.774 dividend. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. 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%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company 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).