Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Gerdes Energy Research raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. UBS Group cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cenovus Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Cenovus Energy Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock opened at $31.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market cap of $57.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.87. Cenovus Energy has a fifty-two week low of $15.63 and a fifty-two week high of $34.16.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The oil and gas company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.11. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 12.37%. The business had revenue of $14.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 47.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a C$0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.62%.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 111.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,770,723 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $604,107,000 after acquiring an additional 11,990,405 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 13.6% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,730,316 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,875 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth $411,552,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth $355,752,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth $261,811,000. 51.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) is an integrated Canadian energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, with a significant focus on oil sands operations in Alberta. Its upstream activities include oil sands mining and in situ production, conventional oil and gas production, and the upgrading of heavy crude into synthetic crude oil.

Cenovus also operates in the downstream energy sector through crude oil refining, petroleum upgrading, marketing and distribution.