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

Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSE:CVE - Get Free Report) NYSE: CVE have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$28.15.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CVE shares. Desjardins lowered their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$24.50 to C$22.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$34.00 to C$32.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$32.00 to C$28.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Veritas downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$25.00 to C$26.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 1.8%

Cenovus Energy stock traded up C$0.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$19.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,715,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,818,707. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of C$14.48 and a 12-month high of C$28.39. The stock's 50 day moving average price is C$18.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$19.41. The firm has a market capitalization of C$36.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85, a PEG ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 2.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Cenovus Energy's payout ratio is presently 35.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Jonathan Michael Mckenzie bought 50,000 shares of Cenovus Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$18.49 per share, with a total value of C$924,500.00. Also, insider Hutchison Whampoa Europe Investments S.à r.l. sold 2,438,525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$20.03, for a total transaction of C$48,849,820.34. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 4,358,981 shares of company stock worth $86,440,451. Corporate insiders own 32.03% of the company's stock.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy is an integrated oil company, focused on creating value through the development of its oil sands assets. The company also engages in production of conventional crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Alberta, Canada, with refining operations in the U.S. Net upstream production averaged 472 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020, and the company estimates that it holds 6.7 billion boe of proven and probable reserves.