Wall Street Zen Upgrades CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) to "Hold"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) from "sell" to "hold", but analyst coverage remains negative—two Hold ratings, four Sell ratings and an average consensus of "Strong Sell" with a $31.75 price target.
• CVR missed Q1 EPS expectations (reported ($1.24) vs. ($0.54) consensus) despite revenue rising 20.3% to $1.98 billion; the company has negative ROE and net margin and trades around $33 with a $3.34 billion market cap.
• Major shareholder Carl Icahn purchased 275,012 shares in February (increasing his ~71.2M-share stake), insiders bought a total of 783,404 shares in the last 90 days, and institutional investors hold about 98.88% of the stock.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CVI. Mizuho upped their target price on CVR Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank upped their target price on CVR Energy from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised CVR Energy from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded CVR Energy from a "hold (c)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on CVR Energy in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They issued a "sell" rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CVR Energy has an average rating of "Strong Sell" and a consensus price target of $31.75.

CVR Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVI opened at $33.27 on Friday. CVR Energy has a 1-year low of $19.50 and a 1-year high of $41.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.83 and a 200-day moving average of $29.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.38 and a beta of 0.83.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The oil and gas company reported ($1.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by ($0.70). CVR Energy had a negative return on equity of 22.36% and a negative net margin of 0.56%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.58) EPS. CVR Energy's quarterly revenue was up 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CVR Energy will post 1.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CVR Energy

In other CVR Energy news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn purchased 275,012 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.41 per share, for a total transaction of $5,888,006.92. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 71,201,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,524,432,143.75. The trade was a 0.39% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 783,404 shares of company stock valued at $16,445,044 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the third quarter worth about $50,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in CVR Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Horizon Investments LLC acquired a new stake in CVR Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CVR Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.88% of the company's stock.

CVR Energy Company Profile

CVR Energy, Inc is an independent downstream energy company engaged primarily in petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer production in the United States. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy operates through two reportable segments—Petroleum Products and Nitrogen Fertilizers—leveraging its refining expertise and distribution network to serve both wholesale and retail markets across key regions in the U.S.

In its Petroleum Products segment, the company owns and operates the Coffeyville, Kansas refinery, which has the capability to process various grades of crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products.

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