Swiss National Bank Sells 10,500 Shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Ovintiv Inc. by 1.4%, selling 10,500 shares to end with a total holding of 734,200 shares valued at approximately $31.4 million.
• Despite the recent sell-off, several institutional investors like Charles Schwab Investment Management have significantly increased their holdings in Ovintiv, with Schwab boosting its stake by 383.8%.
• Analyst sentiment is positive, with many firms raising their target prices for Ovintiv, including Goldman Sachs which upgraded its rating to "buy" and increased the target price to $51.00.

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 734,200 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Ovintiv worth $31,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in OVV. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 959,711 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 7,344,796 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Ovintiv by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,562,238 shares of the company's stock valued at $225,265,000 after acquiring an additional 683,700 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ovintiv by 69.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,283,743 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,221 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Ovintiv by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,945,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,053,000 after acquiring an additional 18,490 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OVV has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ovintiv from $46.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ovintiv from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Ovintiv to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.47.

Ovintiv Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE OVV traded up $0.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.87. 1,964,174 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,576,671. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Ovintiv Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.80 and a 12-month high of $47.18. The firm has a market cap of $10.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Ovintiv Announces Dividend

The firm 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 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Ovintiv's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.10%.

Ovintiv Company 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.