Ovintiv Inc. $OVV Shares Purchased by AQR Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ovintiv Inc. by 69.7%, acquiring an additional 2,288,989 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 5.57 million shares valued at $238.5 million.
• Ovintiv recently missed earnings expectations, reporting $1.02 EPS against a consensus estimate of $1.04, with revenues of $1.79 billion below expectations of $1.92 billion for the quarter.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, scheduled to be paid on September 29, with a current dividend yield of 2.8% and a payout ratio of 53.1%.

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV - Free Report) by 69.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,572,732 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,288,989 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.14% of Ovintiv worth $238,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OVV. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 383.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,258,570 shares of the company's stock valued at $396,267,000 after purchasing an additional 7,344,796 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ovintiv during the 1st quarter valued at $56,865,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ovintiv during the 1st quarter valued at $46,603,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 86.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,231,116 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,423,206 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,302,113,000 after purchasing an additional 959,711 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on OVV. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Ovintiv from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $48.00 target price on Ovintiv and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Citigroup set a $54.00 target price on Ovintiv and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Ovintiv from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ovintiv from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $53.07.

Ovintiv Stock Performance

OVV traded down $1.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.09. 3,572,283 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,742,032. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Ovintiv Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.80 and a 1-year high of $47.18.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Ovintiv had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 6.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ovintiv Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ovintiv Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Ovintiv's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.10%.

Ovintiv Profile

Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.