Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Short Interest Down 37.3% in December

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,180,000 shares, a decline of 37.3% from the December 15th total of 17,820,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 7,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of CVE opened at $14.92 on Wednesday. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $14.20 and a twelve month high of $21.90. The stock has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.21.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Cenovus Energy’s revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.133 dividend. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.55%.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVE. Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 39.3% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 4,351,960 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 81.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 12,538,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $246,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,613,320 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,186,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $219,897,000 after buying an additional 562,663 shares in the last quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP lifted its position in Cenovus Energy by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 7,500,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $147,450,000 after buying an additional 1,200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cenovus Energy by 9.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,413,919 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,232,000 after acquiring an additional 568,732 shares during the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is 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.