Westerkirk Capital Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Canadian National Railway Company $CNI

Westerkirk Capital Inc. decreased its holdings in Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) by 65.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,640 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 24,400 shares during the period. Westerkirk Capital Inc.’s holdings in Canadian National Railway were worth $1,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 28.8% in the third quarter. Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC now owns 124,426 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,730,000 after purchasing an additional 27,857 shares in the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 4.1% in the third quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 434,344 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,717,000 after purchasing an additional 17,257 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway in the third quarter worth about $3,079,000. Scharf Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway in the fourth quarter worth about $8,283,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Canadian National Railway in the third quarter worth about $32,174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $160.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $113.88 to $117.36 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Canadian National Railway from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian National Railway has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.04.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $120.92 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $111.96 and a 200 day moving average of $104.89. The stock has a market cap of $73.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.96. Canadian National Railway Company has a 12 month low of $90.74 and a 12 month high of $122.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.31. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 27.22% and a return on equity of 21.90%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.85 earnings per share. Canadian National Railway’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway Company will post 5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.915 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $3.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 48.73%.

About Canadian National Railway

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.