Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Short Interest Up 280.5% in May

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 29th, there was short interest totaling 51,596,398 shares, a growth of 280.5% from the May 14th total of 13,559,429 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,941,931 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Canadian Natural Resources

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNQ. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 146,331,336 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,956,204,000 after acquiring an additional 35,067,143 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,411,619,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 179.2% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,616,347 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $393,213,000 after acquiring an additional 7,455,286 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 11,020.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,735 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $124,672,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 10.0% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 37,457,500 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $1,826,578,000 after acquiring an additional 3,397,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $37.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 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. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Canadian Natural Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Down 0.3%

CNQ stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $45.32. 6,838,716 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,652,807. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.37. Canadian Natural Resources has a 12-month low of $29.30 and a 12-month high of $51.34.

Canadian Natural Resources (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.57 billion. Canadian Natural Resources had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 17.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Canadian Natural Resources will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Canadian Natural Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 23rd. Canadian Natural Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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.