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

Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.3333.

CVE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. National Bankshares upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Veritas lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Cenovus Energy stock opened at $16.01 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.79 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.09 and its 200-day moving average is $13.81. Cenovus Energy has a fifty-two week low of $10.23 and a fifty-two week high of $18.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $10.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.64 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 9.06%. Cenovus Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.43%.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 8.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,483,601 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $757,213,000 after purchasing an additional 4,401,045 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 26,845,367 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $365,097,000 after purchasing an additional 606,042 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 20,890,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $284,447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,439 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,552,075 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $238,999,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056,163 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 33.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,363,386 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $241,513,000 after buying an additional 4,362,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

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.