Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,245,268 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $38,441,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 92,550,104 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,857,337,000 after buying an additional 7,372,718 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 595.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,987 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 296,424 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 17,694 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,109,432 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $746,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 2,064,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:CNQ opened at $27.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.53. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a one year low of $24.65 and a one year high of $39.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.65.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st were paid a $0.4117 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.02%. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

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).