Investors Buy Large Volume of CVR Energy Call Options (NYSE:CVI)

CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 3,114 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 222% compared to the typical volume of 967 call options.

CVR Energy Stock Down 1.5%

CVI traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.53. 1,034,033 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,243,630. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 392.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.33. CVR Energy has a 1 year low of $15.10 and a 1 year high of $30.17.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.90) by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. CVR Energy had a negative return on equity of 5.12% and a net margin of 0.09%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CVR Energy will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn acquired 3,610 shares of CVR Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.24 per share, for a total transaction of $65,846.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 67,574,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,553,462.72. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,641,760 shares of company stock valued at $28,641,557. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVI. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 65.5% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in CVR Energy in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in CVR Energy by 55.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,052 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 1,030.2% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,944 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 106.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,159 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of CVR Energy in a research note on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CVR Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CVR Energy has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $23.00.

About CVR Energy

CVR Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the petroleum refining and marketing, and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing activities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Petroleum and Nitrogen Fertilizer. The Petroleum segment refines and supplies gasoline, crude oil, distillate, diesel fuel, and other refined products.