Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSE:CVE) (NYSE:CVE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a C$58.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$51.00. Cenovus Energy traded as high as C$46.60 and last traded at C$45.59, with a volume of 2603583 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$44.83.

CVE has been the subject of several other reports. Desjardins set a C$50.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. TD raised their target price on Cenovus Energy from C$46.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. National Bank Financial set a C$60.00 price target on Cenovus Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Cenovus Energy from C$49.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$44.88.

Insider Activity at Cenovus Energy

In other news, insider John F. Soini sold 26,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$44.92, for a total transaction of C$1,177,937.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,114 shares in the company, valued at C$94,960.88. The trade was a 92.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Alex Pourbaix sold 30,186 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.17, for a total value of C$1,272,943.62. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,455,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$61,399,351.32. This represents a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold a total of 601,524 shares of company stock worth $25,546,211 in the last 90 days. 32.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$85.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.84, a PEG ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 0.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$41.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$38.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.01, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported C$1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 21.02% and a net margin of 12.37%.The firm had revenue of C$17.43 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 2.2619279 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.78%.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

Cenovus Energy is an integrated oil company, focused on creating value through the development of its oil sands assets. The company also engages in production of conventional crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Alberta, Canada, with refining operations in the U.S. Net upstream production averaged 472 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020, and the company estimates that it holds 6.7 billion boe of proven and probable reserves.