Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE) Short Interest Down 13.1% in February

Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,890,000 shares, a drop of 13.1% from the January 31st total of 14,830,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cenovus Energy during the third quarter worth $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 104.9% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,662 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis purchased a new position in Cenovus Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $98,000. 51.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CVE shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Cenovus Energy from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. National Bank Financial cut Cenovus Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cenovus Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.25.

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Cenovus Energy Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of CVE traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.72. 14,812,481 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,597,966. Cenovus Energy has a 52-week low of $12.07 and a 52-week high of $21.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.89. The firm has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $11.08 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.1269 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. Cenovus Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.50%.

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.