Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 1,391,443 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 30% from the previous session’s volume of 1,069,122 shares.The stock last traded at $118.36 and had previously closed at $118.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Canadian National Railway from $128.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Canadian National Railway from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Canadian National Railway presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.35.

Canadian National Railway Trading Down 1.7 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $116.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.88.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by ($0.09). Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 32.00% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. Canadian National Railway’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.64 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.614 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is currently 39.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNI. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Canadian National Railway by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 162,179 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $20,375,000 after buying an additional 61,498 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,602,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $201,351,000 after purchasing an additional 17,083 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Canadian National Railway in the second quarter valued at $134,096,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the 1st quarter worth about $627,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the 4th quarter valued at about $816,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and marine transportation and logistics business in Canada and the United States. The company provides rail services, which include equipment, custom brokerage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services, such as temperature controlled cargo, port partnerships, and logistics parks.