CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,500,000 shares, a drop of 5.1% from the March 15th total of 6,850,000 shares. Approximately 6.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 925,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.0 days.

CVR Energy Price Performance

CVI stock opened at $33.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.70. CVR Energy has a 12-month low of $22.60 and a 12-month high of $39.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.57.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.40. CVR Energy had a return on equity of 55.17% and a net margin of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that CVR Energy will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

CVR Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. CVR Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CVI shares. Scotiabank raised their price target on CVR Energy from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded CVR Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CVI. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy during the first quarter worth about $255,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of CVR Energy during the first quarter worth about $79,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 16.0% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,688 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 6.9% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 45,196 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CVR Energy by 0.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,522,277 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $64,420,000 after acquiring an additional 17,656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

CVR Energy Company Profile

CVR Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the petroleum refining and marketing, and nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing activities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Petroleum and Nitrogen Fertilizer. The Petroleum segment refines and supplies gasoline, crude oil, distillate, diesel fuel, and other refined products.