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

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average daily volume of 10,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CVE. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 134,376 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,248,000 after buying an additional 21,311 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 75,105 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,989 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 19,775 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 4,211,235 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $70,546,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the period. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Trading Up 3.2 %

CVE traded up $0.42 on Friday, hitting $13.49. 9,139,073 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,469,325. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.99. Cenovus Energy has a 12 month low of $12.08 and a 12 month high of $21.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59.

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

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.1269 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CVE. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. National Bank Financial lowered Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

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.