Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys 255,561 Shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVE - Free Report) TSE: CVE by 81.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 568,698 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after acquiring an additional 255,561 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Cenovus Energy were worth $8,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CVE. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,287,334 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $128,783,000 after buying an additional 1,873,415 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cenovus Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,043,884 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $121,865,000 after acquiring an additional 276,023 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Cenovus Energy by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,226,155 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $79,176,000 after acquiring an additional 245,302 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Cenovus Energy by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,678,976 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $71,775,000 after purchasing an additional 77,548 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cenovus Energy by 10.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 411,000 shares in the last quarter. 51.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Cenovus Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cenovus Energy in a research report on Friday, April 11th. National Bank Financial lowered Cenovus Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Cenovus Energy in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Cenovus Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.00.

Cenovus Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Cenovus Energy stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.12. 9,641,337 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,618,624. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.46. Cenovus Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.23 and a 12-month high of $21.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.86.

Cenovus Energy (NYSE:CVE - Get Free Report) TSE: CVE last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.08 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cenovus Energy Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cenovus Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.1269 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. Cenovus Energy's 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.