Virtu Financial LLC Buys Shares of 24,363 Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 24,363 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $408,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cenovus Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 640.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,065 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth $162,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 8.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,648 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FCG Investment Co bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. Institutional investors own 51.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CVE shares. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Securities downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

Cenovus Energy stock opened at $15.25 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $16.26 and its 200 day moving average is $17.83. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a one year low of $14.69 and a one year high of $21.90. The firm has a market cap of $27.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 2.02. 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 (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.133 per share. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.55%.

Cenovus Energy Company Profile

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.