Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Increases Stock Holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 56.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 219,683 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 78,981 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $3,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Cenovus Energy by 104.9% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 1,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SevenBridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth $162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CVE. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $14.06 on Friday. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.08 and a fifty-two week high of $21.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.56.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.08 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.1269 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.50%.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

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.