Cenovus Energy Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (NYSE:CVE)

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.1269 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Cenovus Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 98.1% annually over the last three years. Cenovus Energy has a payout ratio of 28.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cenovus Energy to earn $1.91 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.51 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.7%.

Cenovus Energy Trading Down 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CVE opened at $14.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Cenovus Energy has a 12-month low of $13.76 and a 12-month high of $21.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.30.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.08 billion. Cenovus Energy had a net margin of 5.82% and a return on equity of 10.73%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CVE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 28th. National Bank Financial downgraded Cenovus Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

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.