Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totaling 28,673,616 shares, a drop of 39.0% from the June 15th total of 47,034,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,642,637 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Cenovus Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 574.8% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,607 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 18,405 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 747,472 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,397,000 after buying an additional 44,125 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $525,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cenovus Energy by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,912 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $495,000. Institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVE has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Cenovus Energy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Lake Street Capital set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.25.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock traded up $0.10 on Thursday, reaching $27.46. The stock had a trading volume of 620,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,774,157. Cenovus Energy has a 1 year low of $13.90 and a 1 year high of $32.07. The company has a market cap of $51.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.25.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.47 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 9.53% and a return on equity of 15.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 34.62%.

About Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy Inc is a Canadian integrated energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, together with downstream refining and marketing activities. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Cenovus operates a mix of oil sands thermal and dilbit assets, conventional oil and gas properties, and owns refining and midstream assets designed to move and process hydrocarbons into finished petroleum products for commercial markets.

The company was originally formed as a spin‑off from Encana Corporation in 2009 and has grown through organic development and strategic acquisitions.