Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.41 Per Share

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) (TSE:CNQ) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of 0.4117 per share by the oil and gas producer on Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This is a 6.1% increase from Canadian Natural Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Canadian Natural Resources has raised its dividend by an average of 28.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Canadian Natural Resources has a payout ratio of 58.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Canadian Natural Resources to earn $2.48 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.1%.

Canadian Natural Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

Canadian Natural Resources stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.33. The company had a trading volume of 11,031,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,045,392. Canadian Natural Resources has a 12-month low of $25.62 and a 12-month high of $41.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNQ has been the topic of several research reports. Tudor Pickering lowered Canadian Natural Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Canadian Natural Resources from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Canadian Natural Resources from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average 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).