Traders Purchase Large Volume of Cenovus Energy Call Options (NYSE:CVE)

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 14,588 call options on the company. This is an increase of 139% compared to the average volume of 6,099 call options.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 191,412,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,901,131,000 after acquiring an additional 26,127,617 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 53,572,829 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $811,769,000 after purchasing an additional 382,519 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,001,002 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $196,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220,663 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,446,229 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $188,467,000 after purchasing an additional 117,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $128,783,000 after buying an additional 1,873,415 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CVE shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. National Bank Financial cut Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.75.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CVE opened at $11.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.95. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.40. Cenovus Energy has a 1 year low of $10.23 and a 1 year high of $21.08.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its 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 net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.08 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.1269 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.50%.

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.