Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires 983,892 Shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited $CNQ

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,614,291 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 983,892 shares during the period. Canadian Natural Resources comprises about 1.0% of Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.46% of Canadian Natural Resources worth $307,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,486,389 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,957,252,000 after buying an additional 1,744,290 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,939,585 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,505,303,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051,714 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,359,777 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $855,414,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546,233 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,146,792 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $548,214,000 after acquiring an additional 2,832,155 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,092,637 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $442,509,000 after acquiring an additional 399,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

Shares of Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $47.26 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.61 and a 200 day moving average of $34.46. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52 week low of $24.65 and a 52 week high of $47.47. The company has a market cap of $98.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

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

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is presently 45.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore lowered Canadian Natural Resources from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lowered shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Desjardins cut shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

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.