Headlands Technologies LLC Buys Shares of 13,763 Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 13,763 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Cenovus Energy by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,334 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $128,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,415 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Cenovus Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,678,976 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $71,775,000 after acquiring an additional 77,548 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 4,494,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $68,094,000 after purchasing an additional 411,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,337,551 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $65,667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,221,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cenovus Energy by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,958,866 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $59,983,000 after purchasing an additional 305,674 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cenovus Energy Price Performance

CVE opened at $11.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a PE ratio of 9.30 and a beta of 1.46. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.11 and a 1 year high of $21.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.32.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.27). Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 10.73% and a net margin of 5.82%. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.08 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.1269 dividend. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Cenovus Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

Cenovus Energy 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.