Brokerages Set Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSE:CVE) Price Target at C$43.73

Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSE:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$43.73.

CVE has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cenovus Energy from C$45.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Gerdes Energy Research raised shares of Cenovus Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from C$42.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. Desjardins set a C$50.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Cenovus Energy from C$47.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD lifted their price target on Cenovus Energy from C$46.00 to C$49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

Cenovus Energy stock opened at C$44.86 on Friday. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of C$20.63 and a 12-month high of C$45.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$39.02 and a 200-day moving average price of C$36.60. The firm has a market capitalization of C$82.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.09 and a beta of 0.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 34.01.

Cenovus Energy (TSE:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported C$1.53 earnings per share for the quarter. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 21.02% and a net margin of 12.37%.The firm had revenue of C$17.43 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 2.2619279 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is 22.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jonathan Michael Mckenzie sold 104,974 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$43.49, for a total transaction of C$4,565,319.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 843,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$36,697,905.76. This represents a 11.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Alex Pourbaix sold 30,186 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$42.17, for a total transaction of C$1,272,943.62. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,455,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$61,399,351.32. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 637,278 shares of company stock worth $26,776,082. 32.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

Cenovus Energy is an integrated oil company, focused on creating value through the development of its oil sands assets. The company also engages in production of conventional crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Alberta, Canada, with refining operations in the U.S. Net upstream production averaged 472 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020, and the company estimates that it holds 6.7 billion boe of proven and probable reserves.