Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Short Interest Update

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,520,000 shares, an increase of 23.3% from the September 30th total of 13,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CVE shares. StockNews.com raised Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. TD Securities lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.75.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cenovus Energy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,563,284 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $970,780,000 after buying an additional 1,008,341 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 37,540,511 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $750,435,000 after acquiring an additional 8,438,979 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Cenovus Energy by 216.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,927,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $678,250,000 after acquiring an additional 23,202,018 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 81.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 12,538,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $246,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,613,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 5.3% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,186,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $219,897,000 after purchasing an additional 562,663 shares during the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

Cenovus Energy stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $16.68. 10,019,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,849,981. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.95. The company has a market cap of $30.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cenovus Energy has a twelve month low of $14.69 and a twelve month high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.13). Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $10.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.78 billion. Equities analysts expect that Cenovus Energy will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.132 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.49%.

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.