Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) by 17.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,883 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 6,321 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,416,146 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $257,831,000 after purchasing an additional 4,351,960 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,569,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Cenovus Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,472,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 44.1% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,284,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $21,491,000 after acquiring an additional 393,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 11.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,653,192 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $61,163,000 after acquiring an additional 369,021 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CVE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Securities cut Cenovus Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cenovus Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Cenovus Energy from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cenovus Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Cenovus Energy stock opened at $15.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.20 and a 52 week high of $21.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.37. The firm has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 2.02.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE) (TSE:CVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $14.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.25 billion. Cenovus Energy had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 6.72%. Cenovus Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cenovus Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.133 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Cenovus Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Cenovus Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.55%.

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.