CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) Stock Bumped Up to Strong-Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research raised CVR Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on CVR Energy from $36.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their target price on CVR Energy from $35.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of CVR Energy from $29.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of CVR Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $45.75.

CVR Energy Stock Performance

CVI opened at $58.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.30 and a beta of 0.90. CVR Energy has a fifty-two week low of $19.62 and a fifty-two week high of $61.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.79 and a 200 day moving average of $36.51.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The oil and gas company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.08. CVR Energy had a net margin of 0.81% and a negative return on equity of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. CVR Energy’s revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CVR Energy will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CVR Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. CVR Energy’s payout ratio is currently 58.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CVR Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of CVR Energy during the second quarter worth about $1,878,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in CVR Energy by 95.0% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 218,382 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,014,000 after acquiring an additional 106,406 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,198,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CVR Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,502,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 11.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,153,498 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $59,315,000 after purchasing an additional 213,829 shares during the period. 98.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CVR Energy

CVR Energy, Inc is a diversified energy company engaged primarily in petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer production. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, the company operates through subsidiaries that serve customers in the United States, with activities concentrated in the Midcontinent region.

Through its refining operations, CVR Energy processes crude oil into transportation fuels and other refined products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and asphalt. Its refineries are located in Coffeyville, Kansas, and Wynnewood, Oklahoma, and are supported by related logistics, storage and transportation assets.

CVR Energy also owns and operates nitrogen fertilizer facilities through CVR Partners, LP.