CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) Stock Price Up 4.2% on Insider Buying Activity

CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)’s stock price shot up 4.2% during trading on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $19.76 and last traded at $19.74. 106,639 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 834,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.95.

Specifically, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn acquired 878,212 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.25 per share, for a total transaction of $16,027,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 67,570,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,163,322.25. This trade represents a 1.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CVI shares. StockNews.com lowered CVR Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on CVR Energy from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of CVR Energy from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of CVR Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

CVR Energy Stock Up 7.6 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.55 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.33.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.41). CVR Energy had a return on equity of 2.88% and a net margin of 0.89%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 27.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CVR Energy, Inc. will post -0.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVR Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 820.5% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in CVR Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in CVR Energy by 640.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 2,698 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in CVR Energy by 47.3% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. 98.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CVR Energy

CVR Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the petroleum refining and marketing, and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing activities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Petroleum and Nitrogen Fertilizer. The Petroleum segment refines and supplies gasoline, crude oil, distillate, diesel fuel, and other refined products.