Short Interest in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Declines By 9.0%

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,040,000 shares, a drop of 9.0% from the October 15th total of 16,520,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 7,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,472,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy during the 1st quarter worth $1,482,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy in the second quarter valued at $2,946,000. M&G Plc raised its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2.4% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 3,496,370 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $69,013,000 after buying an additional 82,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the first quarter worth about $733,000. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVE has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Securities lowered Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of CVE traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,962,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,843,038. The company’s 50 day moving average is $16.74 and its 200 day moving average is $18.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 2.05. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of $14.69 and a 12-month high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.133 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is 36.55%.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, refines, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products in Canada and internationally. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Refining, and U.S. Refining segments.