Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $125.86.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CNI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.67 to $126.29 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup raised shares of Canadian National Railway from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $126.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $131.00 to $124.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Canadian National Railway Stock Down 1.7 %

CNI stock opened at $109.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64. Canadian National Railway has a one year low of $105.28 and a one year high of $134.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $112.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.33.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. Canadian National Railway had a net margin of 31.65% and a return on equity of 23.62%. Canadian National Railway’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Canadian National Railway will post 5.33 EPS for the current year.

Canadian National Railway Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.6108 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Canadian National Railway’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNI. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 730 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 9,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 648 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Doheny Asset Management CA boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Doheny Asset Management CA now owns 3,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,209 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.74% of the company’s stock.

About Canadian National Railway

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.