Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $109.90 and last traded at $108.4330, with a volume of 96096 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $107.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CNI shares. Evercore decreased their target price on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Vertical Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to an “outperformer” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $151.00 in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $66.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 22.14% and a net margin of 27.28%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a $0.915 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is 46.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNI. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the first quarter valued at approximately $311,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Canadian National Railway by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 56.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 13,353 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 4,823 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Canadian National Railway by 9.2% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,226 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the second quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 67,380 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,026,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.