Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI)

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 2,513 call options on the company. This is an increase of 67% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,506 call options.

Insider Activity at CVR Energy

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn bought 275,012 shares of CVR Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.41 per share, with a total value of $5,888,006.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 71,201,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,524,432,143.75. The trade was a 0.39% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have purchased 783,404 shares of company stock worth $16,445,044 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CVR Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in CVR Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $22,217,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management grew its stake in CVR Energy by 165.4% during the 3rd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 65,340 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 40,721 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 380,127 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,867,000 after acquiring an additional 106,350 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 458,214 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,716,000 after acquiring an additional 187,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 95.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 391,985 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $14,300,000 after acquiring an additional 191,584 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

CVR Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CVI traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $30.15. 67,871 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,408,074. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.95 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. CVR Energy has a 12-month low of $17.56 and a 12-month high of $41.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.95.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.84) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. CVR Energy had a negative return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 0.38%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that CVR Energy will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CVI shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on CVR Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded CVR Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial upgraded CVR Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Scotiabank upgraded CVR Energy to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on CVR Energy in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $31.25.

CVR Energy Company Profile

CVR Energy, Inc is an independent downstream energy company engaged primarily in petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer production in the United States. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy operates through two reportable segments—Petroleum Products and Nitrogen Fertilizers—leveraging its refining expertise and distribution network to serve both wholesale and retail markets across key regions in the U.S.

In its Petroleum Products segment, the company owns and operates the Coffeyville, Kansas refinery, which has the capability to process various grades of crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products.