Swiss National Bank Cuts Stake in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,983,135 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 228,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $60,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CVE. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,416,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $257,831,000 after buying an additional 4,351,960 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cenovus Energy by 9.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,413,919 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $109,232,000 after acquiring an additional 568,732 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,980,853 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $83,330,000 after purchasing an additional 952,477 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,678,976 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $71,775,000 after purchasing an additional 77,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 4,494,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $68,094,000 after purchasing an additional 411,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. National Bank Financial cut shares of Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cenovus Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE CVE opened at $13.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.99. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.08 and a 1 year high of $21.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.68.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.08 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.1269 dividend. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

Cenovus Energy Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, refines, transports, and markets crude oil, natural gas, and refined petroleum products in Canada and internationally. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Refining, and U.S. Refining segments.