Cenovus Energy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CVE)

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 148,681 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,196% compared to the average daily volume of 6,475 call options.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CVE. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth about $2,557,000. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 26,845,367 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $365,097,000 after buying an additional 606,042 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 4,156,435 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $56,341,000 after acquiring an additional 257,600 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,895,000. Finally, 111 Capital boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. 111 Capital now owns 74,541 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,015,000 after acquiring an additional 32,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CVE opened at $18.04 on Friday. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of $10.23 and a 12-month high of $18.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.12. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 10.73% and a net margin of 6.23%.The business had revenue of $10.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CVE. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $25.67.

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.