Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys 255,561 Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 81.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 568,698 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 255,561 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $8,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $128,783,000 after buying an additional 1,873,415 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,043,884 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $121,865,000 after purchasing an additional 276,023 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,226,155 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $79,176,000 after purchasing an additional 245,302 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,678,976 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $71,775,000 after purchasing an additional 77,548 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 10.1% in 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 buying an additional 411,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. National Bank Financial lowered Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised Cenovus Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cenovus Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

CVE opened at $11.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.08 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.46. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.23 and a 1 year high of $21.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.00.

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

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.1269 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

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.