BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Lowers Stake in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp decreased its holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 77.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 417,999 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,427,369 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $6,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CVE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 22,396.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 7,429,036 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $146,054,000 after buying an additional 7,396,013 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 81.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 12,538,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $246,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,613,320 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 32,791.8% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,440,391 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $87,246,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,891 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2,236.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,610,779 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $90,608,000 after purchasing an additional 4,413,405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,416,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $257,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351,960 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CVE. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Securities lowered Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $15.77 on Monday. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $21.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 2.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Cenovus Energy’s revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.133 dividend. This represents a $0.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.55%.

Cenovus Energy 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.