Swiss National Bank Raises Stock Position in Cenovus Energy Inc $CVE

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 26.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,754,535 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 992,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $126,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CVE. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $102,662,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 17,935,599 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $303,470,000 after buying an additional 3,507,525 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,995,459 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $287,897,000 after buying an additional 595,518 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT boosted its position in Cenovus Energy by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 460,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,783,000 after acquiring an additional 116,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,842,000. 51.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

Shares of CVE opened at $28.30 on Tuesday. Cenovus Energy Inc has a twelve month low of $13.98 and a twelve month high of $32.07. The company has a market capitalization of $52.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.54 and a 200 day moving average of $24.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 9.53%.The business had revenue of $10.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CVE. Lake Street Capital set a $36.00 target price on Cenovus Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research lowered Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Desjardins raised shares of Cenovus Energy to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.25.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin‑off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.