Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) shares were up 2.79% on Thursday when approximately 3.73M shares were traded, against the average daily trading volume of 2.47M. Analysts at Credit Agricole recently upgraded the stock to Underperform from Buy. Canadian Natural Resource Ltd (USA) (NYSE:CNQ) has a consensus Strong buy rating, according to Zacks Investment Research. No analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, 2 have assigned a hold rating, 1 says it’s a buy, and 5 have assigned a strong buy rating to the company.
Analysts have a consensus target price of $38.36 in the 12-month period. The price objective is 25.07% higher than the recent closing price of $30.97. The 52-week price range is $17.89-$35.28 and the company has a market capitalization of $34.37 billion.
On December 12, 2016 Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to monetize the Company’s non-core ownership interest in the Cold Lake Pipeline, to Inter Pipeline Ltd (“Inter Pipeline”). The transaction consists of the monetization of the Company’s entire 15% ownership interest of Cold Lake Pipeline Ltd. and its 14.7% ownership interest in the Cold Lake Limited Partnership. Upon closing of the transaction the Company will receive gross proceeds of $350 million in cash and 6,417,740 common shares of Inter Pipeline at an ascribed value of $177.5 million for total value of approximately $527.5 million. The transaction is targeted to close in 2016.
Canadian Natural expects to record an after-tax gain on disposition of approximately $200 million, based upon preliminary value allocations.
As previously announced, Canadian Natural has reinitiated Phase 1 of the Kirby North Project (“Kirby North”). To transport Kirby North volumes, Canadian Natural has, concurrently with this disposition, secured firm pipeline transportation capacity with Inter Pipeline for the Kirby North production and diluent volumes, with first production targeted for the first quarter of 2020. This will effectively integrate with the existing transportation arrangements for Canadian Natural’s producing Kirby South volumes.
The Cold Lake Pipeline equity ownership was a non-core asset for Canadian Natural and monetization of the asset brings forward significant value for the Company’s shareholders, not previously recognized, and does not alter the Company’s rights, pricing and access to the Cold Lake Pipeline itself. After completion of the sale, Canadian Natural will retain access to the Cold Lake Pipeline system for portions of the Company’s crude oil volumes.