Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Down 37.0% in September

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 37,556,410 shares, a drop of 37.0% from the September 15th total of 59,607,951 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,436,276 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.8 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CVE. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 111.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,770,723 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $604,107,000 after buying an additional 11,990,405 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 13.6% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,730,316 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $470,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,875 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the second quarter worth $411,552,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy during the second quarter valued at $355,752,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy during the second quarter valued at $261,811,000. Institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CVE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 11th. Zacks Research raised Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CVE opened at $31.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of $15.63 and a 12-month high of $34.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.46.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The oil and gas company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.11. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 21.08% and a net margin of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $14.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 47.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 4.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a dividend of C$0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.62%.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) is an integrated Canadian energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. The company develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, with a significant focus on oil sands operations in Alberta. Its upstream activities include oil sands mining and in situ production, conventional oil and gas production, and the upgrading of heavy crude into synthetic crude oil.

Cenovus also operates in the downstream energy sector through crude oil refining, petroleum upgrading, marketing and distribution.