Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 214,968 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock after buying an additional 5,055 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $6,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNQ. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 worth $112,763,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600,686 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 7,834,264 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $260,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,312,442 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,433,797 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $414,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,224,548 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 63.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,198,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,064,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.03% of the company’s stock.

Canadian Natural Resources Price Performance

NYSE:CNQ opened at $30.33 on Friday. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12 month low of $25.62 and a 12 month high of $41.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.24. 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 firm has a market cap of $63.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 1.48.

Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.4117 per share. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.65 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. Canadian Natural Resources’s payout ratio is 77.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNQ shares. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Tudor Pickering cut Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Canadian Natural Resources from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian Natural Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.00.

About Canadian Natural Resources

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).