Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Barclays

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on OVV. Mizuho reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Ovintiv in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $63.00 to $57.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. National Bankshares dropped their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $69.00 to $53.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $54.94.

Ovintiv Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OVV opened at $55.52 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.13. Ovintiv has a one year low of $32.07 and a one year high of $55.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 2.65.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.41. Ovintiv had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 19.50%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. On average, analysts predict that Ovintiv will post 6.02 EPS for the current year.

Ovintiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Ovintiv’s payout ratio is currently 15.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ovintiv news, Director Howard John Mayson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $303,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,840 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,630.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Howard John Mayson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total value of $303,360.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,840 shares in the company, valued at $1,862,630.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Renee Ellen Zemljak sold 76,264 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.96, for a total transaction of $3,886,413.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,672 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,325.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 91,564 shares of company stock worth $4,660,818. 0.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ovintiv

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ovintiv by 10.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,029,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,285,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,484,554 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Ovintiv by 2.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 22,877,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,088,289,000 after purchasing an additional 507,562 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ovintiv by 38.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,748,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,724,998 shares during the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ovintiv by 2.5% during the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,524,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,801,000 after buying an additional 136,016 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Ovintiv by 63.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,950,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,604,000 after buying an additional 1,530,397 shares during the period. 83.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ovintiv Company Profile

Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.