Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE)

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $25.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CVE. StockNews.com cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Cenovus Energy Trading Down 12.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CVE opened at $11.25 on Wednesday. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $11.11 and a twelve month high of $21.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $20.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.09 and a 200-day moving average of $15.32.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.27). Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 10.73% and a net margin of 5.82%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.08 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.1269 per share. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CVE. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 65.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 26,567 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 10,554 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 61.4% during the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 55,453 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 21,090 shares during the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 8.1% in the third quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 13,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 374.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 388,163 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,499,000 after acquiring an additional 306,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 11.6% in the third quarter. Recurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,100,212 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $69,764,000 after acquiring an additional 426,002 shares during the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.