Clearbridge Investments LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,356,673 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 54,026 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.13% of Cenovus Energy worth $35,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 104.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in Cenovus Energy by 5.6% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 16,489 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. now owns 56,535 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cenovus Energy by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 13,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 40,194 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. National Bank Financial cut shares of Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cenovus Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CVE opened at $14.01 on Wednesday. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $12.08 and a twelve month high of $21.90. The company has a market capitalization of $25.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.38.

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

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.1269 per share. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.50%.

About Cenovus Energy

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.