Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) Cut to Hold at Veritas

Veritas lowered shares of Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CVE. CIBC lowered their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$32.00 to C$28.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised shares of Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Desjardins decreased their target price on Cenovus Energy from C$24.50 to C$22.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Cenovus Energy from C$32.00 to C$30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$28.15.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 0.7%

Cenovus Energy stock opened at C$19.18 on Wednesday. Cenovus Energy has a one year low of C$14.48 and a one year high of C$28.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$17.85 and a 200 day moving average of C$20.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of C$34.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 2.63.

Cenovus Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer John F. Soini purchased 5,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$16.89 per share, for a total transaction of C$99,313.20. Also, Senior Officer Jeffery George Lawson acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$21.39 per share, with a total value of C$213,900.00. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 32,934 shares of company stock valued at $637,721. Corporate insiders own 32.03% of the company’s stock.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy is an integrated oil company, focused on creating value through the development of its oil sands assets. The company also engages in production of conventional crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Alberta, Canada, with refining operations in the U.S. Net upstream production averaged 472 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020, and the company estimates that it holds 6.7 billion boe of proven and probable reserves.