Short Interest in CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) Decreases By 5.2%

CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,910,000 shares, a decline of 5.2% from the August 15th total of 5,180,000 shares. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CVI. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $33.75 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. lowered CVR Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank upped their price target on CVR Energy from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on CVR Energy from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVR Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

CVR Energy Price Performance

NYSE CVI traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $24.21. 61,829 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,022,677. CVR Energy has a 1-year low of $21.05 and a 1-year high of $38.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.79. The company has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.49.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. CVR Energy had a return on equity of 25.00% and a net margin of 6.39%. The business’s revenue was down 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CVR Energy will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

CVR Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. CVR Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.67%.

Institutional Trading of CVR Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,934,944 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $119,229,000 after acquiring an additional 424,348 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 123,088 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,730,000 after buying an additional 27,676 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 139,610 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,230,000 after buying an additional 28,797 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CVR Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $11,567,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in CVR Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $754,000. 98.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CVR Energy Company Profile

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.