Maverick Capital Ltd. Takes Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 46,050 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,246,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 6,758,445 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $228,729,000 after buying an additional 315,460 shares in the last quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources during the 1st quarter valued at about $6,198,000. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 22.4% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 5,122,209 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $252,883,000 after purchasing an additional 938,210 shares during the period. Novem Group purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,270,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 78,161 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $2,646,000 after purchasing an additional 29,249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded Canadian Natural Resources to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Down 3.6%

NYSE:CNQ opened at $44.76 on Tuesday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52 week low of $29.30 and a 52 week high of $51.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.11. Canadian Natural Resources had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 22.04%.The business had revenue of $7.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Canadian Natural Resources Limited will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Canadian Natural Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd were given a $0.625 dividend. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 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.