Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $28.00 target price on the oil and gas company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on CVE. TD Securities lowered Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Down 1.7 %

CVE stock opened at $15.33 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $27.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 2.01. Cenovus Energy has a 52 week low of $14.20 and a 52 week high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 6.72%. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.133 dividend. This represents a $0.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 39.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,351,960 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 81.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 12,538,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $246,507,000 after buying an additional 5,613,320 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 5.3% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,186,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $219,897,000 after buying an additional 562,663 shares in the last quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 19.0% during the second quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP now owns 7,500,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $147,450,000 after buying an additional 1,200,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,413,919 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $109,232,000 after acquiring an additional 568,732 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

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.