Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Cut to Strong Sell at Veritas

Veritas downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on CVE. Zacks Research cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank raised Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.33.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

CVE stock opened at $21.88 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $41.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.73. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $10.23 and a twelve month high of $23.39.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The oil and gas company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.89 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 13.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth about $2,557,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 69.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,655,878 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $62,081,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,590 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 26,845,367 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $365,097,000 after acquiring an additional 606,042 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 6.6% in 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. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $74,895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin‑off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.