Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,082,556 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 81,413 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $759,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CVE. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 104.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 16,489 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. now owns 56,535 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. Harmony Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 8.1% during the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 13,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.2% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 40,194 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CVE. National Bank Financial downgraded Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised shares of Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock opened at $13.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.42. The company has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.99. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a one year low of $12.08 and a one year high of $21.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.27). Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.08 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.1269 dividend. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.50%.

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.