Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ] is 10.07% higher this YTD. Is it still time to buy?

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [NYSE: CNQ] surged by $0.24 during the normal trading session on while it closed the day at $72.12. The company report on February 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM that Canadian Natural Resources Limited Announces 2023 Fourth Quarter and Year End Results.

Calgary, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – February 29, 2024) – Highlighting a successful 2023, Canadian Natural’s (TSX: CNQ) (NYSE: CNQ) Chief Financial Officer, Mark Stainthorpe, stated “Through the Company’s effective and efficient operations and disciplined capital allocation, we achieved our net debt level of $10 billion in Q4/23, earlier than previously forecasted. As per our free cash flow allocation policy, we will now target to return 100% of free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.”.

Canadian Natural’s Vice Chairman, Tim McKay, also commented “In 2023, we delivered on our capital allocation strategy by strengthening our balance sheet, providing significant returns to shareholders and strategically developing our assets. We achieved record annual production while growing our reserves organically on both a total proved and total proved plus probable basis, with reserve replacement ratios of 166% and 194% respectively.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. stock has also gained 3.49% of its value over the past 7 days. However, CNQ stock has inclined by 8.70% in the 3 months of the year. Over the past six months meanwhile, it has gained 10.29% and gained 10.07% year-on date.

The market cap for CNQ stock reached $77.23 billion, with 1.07 billion shares outstanding and 1.05 billion shares in the current float. Compared to the average trading volume of 3.21M shares, CNQ reached a trading volume of 2754998 in the most recent trading day, which is why market watchdogs consider the stock to be active.

Here’s what leading stock market gurus have to say about Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ]:

Based on careful and fact-backed analyses by Wall Street experts, the current consensus on the target price for CNQ shares is $75.19 per share. Analysis on target price and performance of stocks is usually carefully studied by market experts, and the current Wall Street consensus on CNQ stock is a recommendation set at 1.73. This rating represents a strong Buy recommendation, on the scale from 1 to 5, where 5 would mean strong sell, 4 represents Sell, 3 is Hold, and 2 indicates Buy.

UBS have made an estimate for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. shares, keeping their opinion on the stock as Buy, with their previous recommendation back on July 12, 2023. While these analysts kept the previous recommendation, Stifel raised their target price to Buy. The new note on the price target was released on January 13, 2023, representing the official price target for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. stock. Previously, the target price had yet another raise from $62 to $69, while Goldman kept a Buy rating on CNQ stock.

The Average True Range (ATR) for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is set at 1.62, with the Price to Sales ratio for CNQ stock in the period of the last 12 months amounting to 2.90. The Price to Book ratio for the last quarter was 2.56, with the Price to Cash per share for the same quarter was set at 0.99. Price to Free Cash Flow for CNQ in the course of the last twelve months was 14.05 with Quick ratio for the last quarter at 0.69.

CNQ stock trade performance evaluation

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ] gain into the green zone at the end of the last week, gaining into a positive trend and gaining by 3.49. With this latest performance, CNQ shares gained by 18.29% in over the last four-week period, additionally plugging by 10.29% over the last 6 months – not to mention a rise of 24.95% in the past year of trading.

Overbought and oversold stocks can be easily traced with the Relative Strength Index (RSI), where an RSI result of over 70 would be overbought, and any rate below 30 would indicate oversold conditions. An RSI rate of 50 would represent a neutral market momentum. The current RSI for CNQ stock in for the last two-week period is set at 71.70, with the RSI for the last a single of trading hit 76.60, and the three-weeks RSI is set at 67.11 for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ]. The present Moving Average for the last 50 days of trading for this stock 64.76, while it was recorded at 71.58 for the last single week of trading, and 62.28 for the last 200 days.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ]: An insightful look at the core fundamentals

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s liquidity data is similarly interesting compelling, with a Quick Ratio of 0.69 and a Current Ratio set at 0.96.

Earnings per share (EPS) analysis for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ] stock

With the latest financial reports released by the company, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. posted 1.28/share EPS, while the average EPS was predicted by analysts to be reported at 1.27/share. When compared, the two values demonstrate that the company surpassed the estimates by a Surprise Factor of 0.80%. The progress of the company may be observed through the prism of EPS growth rate, while Wall Street analysts are focusing on predicting the 5-year EPS growth rate for CNQ. When it comes to the mentioned value, analysts are expecting to see the 5-year EPS growth rate for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. go to -0.74%.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNQ]: Institutional Ownership

The top three institutional holders of CNQ stocks are: VANGUARD GROUP INC with ownership of 1.3 billion shares, which is approximately 8.2815%. BLACKROCK INC., holding 1.03 billion shares of the stock with an approximate value of $176.59 billion in CNQ stocks shares; and BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC, currently with $156.75 billion in CNQ stock with ownership which is approximately 5.8325%.