Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $6.61 Million Stock Position in Cenovus Energy Inc $CVE

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its Cenovus Energy stake by 13.2% in the first quarter, selling 38,078 shares and leaving it with 249,834 shares worth about $6.61 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: several firms reiterated or upgraded ratings, and the stock now has a consensus “Buy” rating with an average target price of $35.25.
• Cenovus reported better-than-expected Q1 results with EPS of $0.61 on revenue of $10.79 billion, and it recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.20.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE - Free Report) TSE: CVE by 13.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,834 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after selling 38,078 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $6,611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 13,407 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 93,986 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,590,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 65,248 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in Cenovus Energy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 12,597 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,307 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CVE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Cenovus Energy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Zacks Research lowered Cenovus Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Cenovus Energy from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $35.25.

Cenovus Energy Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE CVE opened at $27.39 on Thursday. Cenovus Energy Inc has a twelve month low of $13.90 and a twelve month high of $32.07. The stock has a market cap of $50.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.57.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.47 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 9.53%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy Inc will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Cenovus Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Cenovus Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.62%.

Cenovus Energy Profile

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin‑off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.

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