Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Reduces Holdings in Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI trimmed its position in shares of Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,090 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,868 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI owned approximately 0.05% of Ovintiv worth $5,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OVV. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ovintiv by 114.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,027,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618,556 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ovintiv by 3.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,055,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,456,072,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,931 shares during the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ovintiv during the second quarter worth about $22,732,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Ovintiv by 6,830.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 411,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,334,000 after purchasing an additional 405,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Ovintiv by 338.7% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 445,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,866,000 after buying an additional 343,709 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.81% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OVV has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ovintiv from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ovintiv from $51.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded shares of Ovintiv to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $60.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Ovintiv from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Ovintiv Stock Performance

Shares of OVV stock opened at $40.79 on Friday. Ovintiv Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.90 and a 12-month high of $55.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 2.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.20.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. Ovintiv had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 18.56%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ovintiv Inc. will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Ovintiv Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Ovintiv’s payout ratio is 16.93%.

Ovintiv Company Profile

Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.