Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,770,000 shares, a decrease of 25.3% from the April 30th total of 17,100,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 2,719.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,141,434 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $57,533,000 after purchasing an additional 3,994,539 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 6.3% in the first 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 worth $10,397,000 after acquiring an additional 44,125 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the first quarter worth about $19,735,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 18,405 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Cenovus Energy in the first quarter worth about $1,274,000. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $13.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,307,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,195,446. Cenovus Energy has a one year low of $10.23 and a one year high of $20.89. The company has a market capitalization of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.00. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.03. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. The company had revenue of $11.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CVE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Veritas lowered shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.75.

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.