Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.67.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVE. Financial Perspectives Inc bought a new position in Cenovus Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 80.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,453 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CVE opened at $21.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 2.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.03. Cenovus Energy has a 1 year low of $14.69 and a 1 year high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $9.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.73 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 14.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cenovus Energy will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.1033 dividend. This represents a $0.41 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.95%.

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.