(What you need to know about Canadian Natural Resources stock in 5 minutes or less)
What the company does:
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSX: CNQ) (NYSE: CNQ) acquires, develops, produces and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its core regions of operations are western Canada, the UK sector of the North Sea, and offshore Africa.
In 2025, the majority of its production came from oil sand mining in Alberta (36%) and natural gas (27%) output from three western Canadian provinces.
Canadian Natural Resources is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company was incorporated on November 7, 1973, as AEX Minerals Corporation before changing its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited on December 5, 1975.
CNQ’s president is Scott Stauth, who has been employed by the company since 1997. He became President of Canadian Natural Resources in June 2024. He had a base salary of $613,500 but his total compensation was equal to $9,392,418 in 2025. His total compensation in 2024 was $9,244,412 and was $7,399,371 in 2023.
Stauth owned 371,548 of Canadian Natural Resources shares as of March 18, 2026, which was valued at $25,075,775.
Shares outstanding and notable ownership interests:
CNQ had 2,086,830,405 common shares issued and outstanding as of March 18, 2026. Its stock has split 2 for 1 five different times since 1993, the most recent being on June 3, 2024.
Capital World Investors, which is based in Los Angeles, owned 214,669,993 CNQ shares as of March 18, 2026. This represents an approximate 10.3% ownership stake in Canadian Natural Resources. Capital World is a division of Capital Group. Capital Group is considered the world’s largest active fund manager with more than $3.3 trillion in assets under management.
CNQ’s executive chairperson and director N. Murray Edwards owned 42,936,076 company shares valued at $2,897,755,769 as of March 18, 2026. Edwards has been a Canadian Natural Resources director and significant shareholder since 1988.
Dividend info:
The company has paid a dividend each year since April 2001 and has increased its annual dividend every year for 26 consecutive years. Its dividend has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 20% over that time.
On March 5, 2026, Canadian Natural Resources announced that its Board had approved a 6.4% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.625 per share. It was payable on April 7, 2026, to shareholders of record on March 20. The company’s yearly dividend is now $2.50 per share.
CNQ’s current dividend payout ratio is 52.7%. Its free-cash-flow-dividend payout ratio is currently about 76%.
Financials and Assets Info:
In 2025, the company’s cash flows from operating activities were $7.39 per share (basic), up from $6.99 in 2024. During the same period its net earnings per share was $5.17, up from $2.87 a year earlier.
Canadian Natural Resources shareholders’ equity averaged 16.7% in 2025. The company also bought back $1.4 billion CNQ shares and reduced its net debt by $2.7 billion in 2025.
At year end 2025, CNQ had total proved reserves of 15.91 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). Meanwhile, the company’s total proved plus probable reserves equaled 20.75 billion BOE. This represents increases of about 4% and 3%, respectively, from year end 2024 levels.
Canadian Natural Resources Stock Price Performance:
Canadian Natural Resources shares have achieved an average annual return of around 16.4% over the past 10 years, presuming the reinvestment of dividends. This compares with 14.9% for the S&P 500 and 12.5% for the S&P/TSX Composite.
CNQ stock has a currently dividend yield of 3.8%, based on its closing share price of C$65.31, as of July 29, 2026.
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