Stephens Cuts Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Price Target to $100.00

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) had its price objective cut by Stephens from $105.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CNI. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $117.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Canadian National Railway from $148.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $120.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.91.

Canadian National Railway Stock Performance

CNI stock opened at $98.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Canadian National Railway has a 1 year low of $90.74 and a 1 year high of $108.75. The company has a market cap of $60.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $98.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.06.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The transportation company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.43 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 22.14% and a net margin of 27.28%.Canadian National Railway’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Canadian National Railway will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.915 per share. This is a positive change from Canadian National Railway’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNI. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 13.4% in the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 929 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 8,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $823,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,374 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.