Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 11,491 Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 11,491 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 640.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,065 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth $162,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Cenovus Energy by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,648 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FCG Investment Co bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

CVE stock opened at $15.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $27.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 2.01. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.20 and a 1-year high of $21.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.32 and its 200-day moving average is $17.07.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were 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 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CVE. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, TD Securities cut Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy 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.