Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 371,085 Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 121.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 675,388 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 371,085 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $11,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,053,328 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $184,278,000 after acquiring an additional 462,273 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,406,395 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $29,282,000 after acquiring an additional 234,500 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 16.2% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,422,158 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $29,609,000 after purchasing an additional 198,062 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,480,149 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,030,177,000 after purchasing an additional 690,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 315.6% in the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 187,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,893,000 after purchasing an additional 142,000 shares during the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CVE. StockNews.com raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $26.67.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CVE opened at $20.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 2.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.69 and a 12 month high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The oil and gas company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $9.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.73 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 14.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.81 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.1033 per share. This represents a $0.41 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 25.95%.

Cenovus Energy Profile

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.