Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) Shares Climb 4% – Still a Buy?

Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV) shares traded up 4% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $68.54 and last traded at $68.7990. Approximately 1,223,385 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 3,929,554 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on OVV. Stifel Nicolaus set a $92.00 price target on shares of Ovintiv and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on Ovintiv from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Ovintiv from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ovintiv from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Ovintiv in a research note on Monday, September 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ovintiv currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.64.

Ovintiv Trading Up 4.3%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48 and a beta of 0.65.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Ovintiv had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 14.84%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ovintiv Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ovintiv Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Ovintiv’s dividend payout ratio is 33.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Rachel Moore sold 7,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.32, for a total value of $490,919.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 72,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,592,599.60. This represents a 9.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ovintiv

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in Ovintiv in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ovintiv in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ovintiv during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Markowski Investments acquired a new position in Ovintiv during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ovintiv by 43.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 918 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. 83.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ovintiv Company Profile

Ovintiv Inc (NYSE: OVV) is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and operation of oil and natural gas properties. Its production includes crude oil, condensate, plant condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas.

The company’s operations are concentrated in North America, with core assets in the Permian Basin, Uinta Basin and Anadarko Basin in the United States, as well as the Montney region in western Canada. Ovintiv also owns and operates related processing, gathering and other midstream infrastructure that supports the production and transportation of its energy products.

Ovintiv was formerly known as Encana Corporation and adopted its current name in 2020.