Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Buys 344,199 Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc $CVE

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. raised its position in Cenovus Energy Inc (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,057,328 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 344,199 shares during the period. Cenovus Energy accounts for 1.6% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $82,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Cenovus Energy by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 40,386 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 9,958 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,184,280 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,473,000 after buying an additional 21,281 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 26.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 890,655 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $12,389,000 after acquiring an additional 188,982 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 377.7% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 61,388 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $854,000 after acquiring an additional 48,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 51,101 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005 shares during the period. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CVE shares. Raymond James Financial raised Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Monday, November 10th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $18.09 on Friday. Cenovus Energy Inc has a 52-week low of $10.23 and a 52-week high of $18.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.20 and a 200-day moving average of $15.33. The company has a market capitalization of $31.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.12. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 9.06% and a net margin of 5.18%.The business had revenue of $10.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cenovus Energy Inc will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.90%.

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.