Traders Buy High Volume of Cenovus Energy Call Options (NYSE:CVE)

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 25,308 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 340% compared to the average daily volume of 5,747 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CVE. National Bank Financial lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.25.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock opened at $12.35 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.99. Cenovus Energy has a 12 month low of $12.07 and a 12 month high of $21.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted 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). Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.08 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cenovus Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 411,000 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 4,351,960 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,569,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,472,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted 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 buying an additional 399,787 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.