Investors Buy High Volume of CVR Energy Call Options (NYSE:CVI)

CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 2,181 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 240% compared to the typical daily volume of 642 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CVR Energy news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn bought 275,012 shares of CVR Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.41 per share, for a total transaction of $5,888,006.92. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 71,201,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,524,432,143.75. This represents a 0.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 783,404 shares of company stock worth $16,445,044. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,057,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in CVR Energy by 69.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 458,214 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,716,000 after purchasing an additional 187,620 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in CVR Energy by 249.1% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 149,748 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,021,000 after purchasing an additional 106,854 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in CVR Energy by 95.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 391,985 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $14,300,000 after buying an additional 191,584 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in CVR Energy by 38.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 380,127 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $13,867,000 after buying an additional 106,350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

CVR Energy Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE CVI opened at $26.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.20 and a beta of 1.12. CVR Energy has a 12 month low of $15.10 and a 12 month high of $41.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.74 and a 200-day moving average of $30.14.

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

CVR Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CVI. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CVR Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CVR Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVR Energy has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $29.25.

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.