Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Shares Sold by Guinness Asset Management LTD

Guinness Asset Management LTD trimmed its holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 582,046 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 87,791 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $8,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 38,465 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $583,000 after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 17,908 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 1,684 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $174,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Cenovus Energy by 175.4% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 103,509 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after buying an additional 65,921 shares during the period. Finally, Foundation Resource Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Foundation Resource Management Inc. now owns 435,264 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,594,000 after buying an additional 6,509 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CVE shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cenovus Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CVE opened at $15.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.07. The company has a market cap of $27.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 2.01. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.20 and a 1-year high of $21.90.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.25 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.133 dividend. This is an increase from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

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.