Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) Receives $132.12 Average Price Target from Analysts

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $137.3964.

Several research analysts have issued reports on CNI shares. Weiss Ratings raised Canadian National Railway from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price target (up from $138.00) on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Stephens raised shares of Canadian National Railway to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Canadian National Railway in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $124.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNI opened at $127.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.06 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Canadian National Railway has a 1-year low of $90.74 and a 1-year high of $131.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $121.62 and its 200-day moving average is $111.67.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 22.22%. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Canadian National Railway will post 5.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.915 dividend. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 639,137.0% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,955,711 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $844,353,000 after purchasing an additional 8,954,310 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Canadian National Railway during the 4th quarter worth approximately $570,161,000. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,557,309,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210,403 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Canadian National Railway by 6,329.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,234,030 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $122,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,836 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $889,462,000 after buying an additional 1,182,106 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

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.