Cenovus Energy’s (CVE) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Securities downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CVE opened at $15.44 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $14.20 and a twelve month high of $21.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 2.01.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cenovus Energy will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.133 dividend. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is 36.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 worth $257,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351,960 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the third quarter valued at about $11,569,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,472,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,284,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $21,491,000 after buying an additional 393,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,653,192 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $61,163,000 after acquiring an additional 369,021 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

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.