Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ is Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s 5th Largest Position

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,457,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,397,500 shares during the quarter. Canadian Natural Resources comprises 2.9% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 1.80% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $1,826,578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 183.4% during the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,011,022 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $49,231,000 after purchasing an additional 654,266 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. increased its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 27,532 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,411,619,000. Capula Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,339,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 49.9% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,565,392 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $320,189,000 after buying an additional 2,184,892 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

CNQ opened at $46.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.20. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12-month low of $29.30 and a 12-month high of $51.34. The firm has a market cap of $96.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.57 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 22.04%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were paid a $0.625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.03%.

Canadian Natural Resources 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.