Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Stock Price

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) had its target price raised by Barclays from $97.00 to $98.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Vertical Research upgraded Canadian National Railway from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Evercore decreased their price target on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $119.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian National Railway presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.55.

Canadian National Railway Trading Down 0.1%

CNI opened at $101.51 on Friday. Canadian National Railway has a fifty-two week low of $90.74 and a fifty-two week high of $113.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.05 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $104.12 and its 200 day moving average is $98.85.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 22.14% and a net margin of 27.28%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.915 dividend. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a boost from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.36%.

Institutional Trading of Canadian National Railway

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Canadian National Railway in the fourth quarter worth $12,429,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 4th quarter valued at $54,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 4th quarter valued at $237,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Canadian National Railway during the 4th quarter worth $1,592,000. Finally, Tobam raised its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 1,662 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. 80.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.