Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $14.27, but opened at $15.00. Cenovus Energy shares last traded at $14.70, with a volume of 6,263,829 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CVE. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Veritas downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.75.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $27.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $12.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $11.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.39 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy's previous dividend of $0.11. Cenovus Energy's dividend payout ratio is 54.21%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVE. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 15.8% in 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 period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 56.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,481,233 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $270,742,000 after purchasing an additional 7,035,004 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 8.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,483,601 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $757,213,000 after purchasing an additional 4,401,045 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 33.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,363,386 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $241,513,000 after purchasing an additional 4,362,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 2,719.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,141,434 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $57,533,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,539 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company's stock.

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.