Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CNI. Wells Fargo & Company raised Canadian National Railway from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $125.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday. Bank of America lowered Canadian National Railway from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the stock from $129.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Canadian National Railway from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens dropped their price target on Canadian National Railway from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Canadian National Railway from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $128.59.

Canadian National Railway Stock Up 1.0 %

CNI opened at $115.10 on Thursday. Canadian National Railway has a one year low of $103.96 and a one year high of $134.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.47 and its 200-day moving average is $120.83. The company has a market capitalization of $72.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.88.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last posted 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 return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 32.00%. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.614 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 39.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Canadian National Railway by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,602,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $201,351,000 after buying an additional 17,083 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 2nd quarter valued at $134,096,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 1st quarter valued at $627,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 4th quarter valued at $816,000. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in Canadian National Railway in the 1st quarter valued at $4,451,000. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

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.