Raymond James Financial Upgrades CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) to “Market Perform”

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of CVR Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CVR Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CVR Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on CVR Energy from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average price target of $30.00.

CVR Energy Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of NYSE CVI opened at $34.34 on Wednesday. CVR Energy has a 52-week low of $15.10 and a 52-week high of $41.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.06 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.79.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.84) by $0.04. CVR Energy had a negative return on equity of 14.31% and a net margin of 0.38%.The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that CVR Energy will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn acquired 275,012 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.41 per share, with a total value of $5,888,006.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 71,201,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,524,432,143.75. This represents a 0.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 783,404 shares of company stock valued at $16,445,044. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CVR Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in CVR Energy by 21,261.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 776,073 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,311,000 after acquiring an additional 772,440 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy during the third quarter worth $22,217,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVR Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $9,616,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 101.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 706,504 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $25,773,000 after purchasing an additional 355,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CVR Energy by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,364,250 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $49,768,000 after purchasing an additional 345,758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

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.