Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Short Interest Up 96.3% in August

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 113,170,168 shares, a growth of 96.3% from the August 15th total of 57,647,400 shares. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,523,776 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 20.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Zacks Research cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Desjardins raised Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of CNQ traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.37. The company had a trading volume of 2,283,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,490,881. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Canadian Natural Resources has a 1-year low of $29.68 and a 1-year high of $52.31. The stock has a market cap of $105.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.47.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $14.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.40 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.78% and a return on equity of 23.91%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Canadian Natural Resources will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian Natural Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 146,331,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,956,204,000 after purchasing an additional 35,067,143 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter worth about $1,411,619,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 37,457,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,826,578,000 after purchasing an additional 3,397,500 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 105.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 6,350,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $250,892,000 after purchasing an additional 3,262,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Canadian Natural Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $117,215,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) is a Canadian independent crude oil and natural gas exploration, development, production, marketing and refining company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company produces a range of energy products, including heavy and light crude oil, synthetic crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CNRL’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it holds significant oil sands, conventional oil and natural gas assets. Its oil sands business includes mining and upgrading operations as well as in situ thermal projects.