Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 21,610,000 shares, a growth of 67.6% from the February 13th total of 12,890,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 10,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVE. Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 411,000 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position 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 worth $71,775,000 after acquiring an additional 77,548 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,416,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $257,831,000 after acquiring an additional 4,351,960 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,569,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 1,289.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 430,781 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,526,000 after acquiring an additional 399,787 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE CVE traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $13.49. The company had a trading volume of 9,139,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,481,660. Cenovus Energy has a one year low of $12.08 and a one year high of $21.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.74. The stock has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.99.

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

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.1269 per share. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is 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.