Athabasca Oil (TSE:ATH) Stock Rating Lowered by TD Securities

Key Points

• TD Securities downgraded Athabasca Oil from “hold” to “strong sell,” although its price target was raised to C$12.00. The broader analyst consensus remains “Hold,” with an average target of C$11.61.
• Athabasca shares opened at C$12.23, near the company’s 52-week high of C$12.86, while the business reported C$0.13 in quarterly EPS and C$306.54 million in revenue.
• Insiders have been buying shares, including a recent purchase of 49,500 shares, but the company’s planned acquisition by Cenovus at C$12.00 per share limits further upside and remains subject to closing, regulatory and shareholder-approval risks.

Athabasca Oil (TSE:ATH - Get Free Report) was downgraded by TD Securities from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ATH. TD cut Athabasca Oil from a "hold" rating to a "tender" rating and upped their price target for the stock from C$11.00 to C$12.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Desjardins set a C$12.50 target price on shares of Athabasca Oil and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Athabasca Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a C$12.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$12.00 target price on shares of Athabasca Oil and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$11.61.

Athabasca Oil Stock Performance

Athabasca Oil stock opened at C$12.23 on Monday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$10.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$10.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.95, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of C$5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of -0.51 and a beta of 0.10. Athabasca Oil has a fifty-two week low of C$6.11 and a fifty-two week high of C$12.86.

Athabasca Oil (TSE:ATH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas exploration company reported C$0.13 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$306.54 million for the quarter. Athabasca Oil had a return on equity of 12.57% and a net margin of 17.68%. As a group, analysts expect that Athabasca Oil will post 0.5403473 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Athabasca Oil Corporation acquired 49,500 shares of Athabasca Oil stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of C$10.14 per share, with a total value of C$501,930.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 742,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$7,524,894. This represents a 7.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 1,150,600 shares of company stock worth $12,167,863. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Athabasca Oil News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Athabasca Oil this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cenovus will pay C$12.00 per Athabasca share, representing a 14% premium to Athabasca’s 20-day volume-weighted average price. The consideration will consist of 65% cash and 35% Cenovus shares, with shareholders able to choose their preferred mix, subject to allocation limits. Athabasca Oil Announces Agreement to be Acquired by Cenovus Energy
• Positive Sentiment: The deal gives Athabasca investors a defined takeover value and reflects Cenovus’s interest in expanding its oil-sands operations. The acquisition is expected to add roughly 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Cenovus’s production and provide greater control of strategic oil-sands and Duvernay assets. Cenovus to Buy Athabasca Oil at US$4 Billion Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: TD downgraded Athabasca from “hold” to “tender” while raising its price target from C$11.00 to C$12.00. The recommendation indicates investors should tender their shares into the acquisition rather than continue holding the standalone company, with the target aligned to the cash offer. BayStreet report
• Negative Sentiment: Because Athabasca’s shares are trading around or above the C$12.00 offer price, further upside is limited unless the transaction terms improve. Investors also remain exposed to closing, regulatory and shareholder-approval risks, while the stock’s value will partly depend on Cenovus’s share price for the stock component.

About Athabasca Oil

Athabasca Oil Corporation is a Canadian energy company with a focused strategy on the development of thermal and light oil assets. Situated in Alberta's Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Company has amassed a significant land base of extensive, high quality resources. Athabasca's light oil assets are held in a private subsidiary (Duvernay Energy Corporation) in which Athabasca owns a 70% equity interest. Athabasca's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol 'ATH'.

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