Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Shares Purchased by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 125.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 285,933 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 159,121 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $8,817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNQ. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after purchasing an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,855 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $112,763,000 after buying an additional 3,600,686 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $414,223,000 after buying an additional 3,224,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,708,163 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $400,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064,492 shares during the last quarter. 74.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

CNQ opened at $27.39 on Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a twelve month low of $24.65 and a twelve month high of $39.79. The stock has a market cap of $57.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.21 and its 200-day moving average is $31.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 77.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on CNQ shares. Tudor Pickering downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.00.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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).