Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.25.

Several research firms have weighed in on CVE. Zacks Research downgraded Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Lake Street Capital set a $36.00 price objective on Cenovus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Cenovus Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 124,313,513 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,103,090,000 after buying an additional 17,730,542 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,525,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,074,660,000 after buying an additional 7,197,843 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 50,979,140 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $862,505,000 after buying an additional 1,903,432 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 38,533,059 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $651,880,000 after buying an additional 11,019,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 46.7% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 30,643,806 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $520,196,000 after buying an additional 9,753,134 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $24.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $46.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.56. Cenovus Energy has a 1-year low of $13.47 and a 1-year high of $32.07.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $10.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.47 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 9.53%.Cenovus Energy’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.16%.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin‑off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.