Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.75.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, April 11th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Cenovus Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. National Bank Financial lowered Cenovus Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Cenovus Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CVE traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.65. The stock had a trading volume of 10,136,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,656,355. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $10.23 and a twelve month high of $21.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.45.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.08 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 10.73% and a net margin of 5.82%. On average, analysts expect that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.1269 dividend. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy's payout ratio is 40.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 191,412,590 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,901,131,000 after buying an additional 26,127,617 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 53,572,829 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $811,769,000 after purchasing an additional 382,519 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cenovus Energy by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,001,002 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $196,935,000 after acquiring an additional 4,220,663 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,446,229 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $188,467,000 after purchasing an additional 117,568 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,334 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $128,783,000 after buying an additional 1,873,415 shares during the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cenovus Energy

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.