Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases 2,800 Shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,200 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ovintiv were worth $2,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of OVV. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 27.7% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Ovintiv by 23.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ovintiv by 53.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 862 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Ovintiv by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Ovintiv by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. 83.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Ovintiv from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Ovintiv from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Ovintiv from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ovintiv from $60.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ovintiv from $58.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ovintiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Ovintiv Stock Performance

NYSE OVV opened at $40.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Ovintiv Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.90 and a 1-year high of $55.95. The company has a market cap of $10.78 billion, a PE ratio of 5.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 2.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.61.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.02. Ovintiv had a net margin of 18.56% and a return on equity of 18.28%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ovintiv Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ovintiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. Ovintiv’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.76%.

Ovintiv Company Profile

Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.