Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 12.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,379,354 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 695,096 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $203,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 47.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,644 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 3,182.7% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 309.8% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,762 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on CNQ shares. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore cut Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNQ opened at $48.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $101.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 0.63. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12 month low of $24.65 and a 12 month high of $48.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.56.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.06. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 17.84%. The business had revenue of $6.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be issued a $0.625 dividend. This is a boost from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is presently 45.53%.

Canadian Natural Resources Company Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources.