CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) Shares Up 4.2% on Insider Buying Activity

CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)’s stock price shot up 4.2% during trading on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $19.76 and last traded at $19.74. 106,639 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 834,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.95.

Specifically, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn acquired 878,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.25 per share, for a total transaction of $16,027,369.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 67,570,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,163,322.25. The trade was a 1.32 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CVI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CVR Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on CVR Energy from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of CVR Energy from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of CVR Energy from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

CVR Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $18.65 and a 200-day moving average of $22.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.33.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.41). CVR Energy had a net margin of 0.89% and a return on equity of 2.88%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 27.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CVR Energy, Inc. will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CVI. State Street Corp increased its position in CVR Energy by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,075,058 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $47,789,000 after purchasing an additional 317,475 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVR Energy in the third quarter valued at about $5,335,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 407,819 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,917,000 after purchasing an additional 153,396 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 323.6% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 159,162 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,261,000 after acquiring an additional 121,590 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in CVR Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,889,000. Institutional investors own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

About CVR Energy

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.