Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on CVE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Securities downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $15.02 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.02. Cenovus Energy has a 52-week low of $14.69 and a 52-week high of $21.90. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $27.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36 and a beta of 2.02.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.133 dividend. This represents a $0.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.55%.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVE. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy in the third quarter valued at $3,472,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy in the third quarter valued at about $11,569,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,946,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Cenovus Energy by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,653,192 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $61,163,000 after acquiring an additional 369,021 shares in 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.