Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CVE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

CVE opened at $16.23 on Monday. Cenovus Energy has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $21.90. The company has a market cap of $29.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 2.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.40.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.133 per share. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cenovus Energy by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,416,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $257,831,000 after buying an additional 4,351,960 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth about $3,472,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the first quarter worth about $1,482,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,946,000. Finally, M&G Plc grew its stake in Cenovus Energy by 2.4% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 3,496,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $69,013,000 after purchasing an additional 82,840 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, refines, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products in Canada and internationally. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Refining, and U.S. Refining segments.