Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $30.00.

A number of research firms have weighed in on CVE. StockNews.com cut Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. TD Securities lowered Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVE. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Cenovus Energy by 39.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,351,960 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth $11,569,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,472,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Cenovus Energy by 44.1% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,284,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $21,491,000 after buying an additional 393,100 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 11.2% during 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 buying an additional 369,021 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $14.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $26.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 2.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $15.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.51. Cenovus Energy has a 1-year low of $14.20 and a 1-year high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.133 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.55%.

About Cenovus Energy

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.