Brokerages Set Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) Target Price at $29.67

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.6667.

CVE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Veritas raised Cenovus Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research raised Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Cenovus Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

CVE opened at $26.43 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $49.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 0.34. Cenovus Energy has a 1 year low of $11.60 and a 1 year high of $27.65.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.89 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 13.25% and a net margin of 7.92%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 2.28 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 38.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 124,313,513 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,103,090,000 after purchasing an additional 17,730,542 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,525,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,074,660,000 after purchasing an additional 7,197,843 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 50,979,140 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $862,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,903,432 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 38,533,059 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $651,880,000 after acquiring an additional 11,019,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 46.7% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,643,806 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $520,196,000 after acquiring an additional 9,753,134 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin?off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.