Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Stake in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 204,320 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,622 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $6,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNQ. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 6,902.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,652,855 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $112,763,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,686 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 73.3% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,834,264 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $260,116,000 after buying an additional 3,312,442 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $414,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,224,548 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 63.5% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,233,388 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $273,417,000 after acquiring an additional 3,198,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,437,771 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $136,994,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CNQ shares. Tudor Pickering cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 2.2 %

Canadian Natural Resources stock opened at $30.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $64.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.29. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 52 week low of $25.62 and a 52 week high of $41.29.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.4117 dividend. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is currently 77.88%.

Canadian Natural Resources Profile

Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO).