Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Stake in CVR Energy Inc. $CVI

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) by 3.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,598,903 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 114,080 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in CVR Energy were worth $131,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CVR Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of CVR Energy by 48.0% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,633 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of CVR Energy in the second quarter valued at $114,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in CVR Energy by 600.3% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,287 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 4,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CVR Energy during the third quarter worth about $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut CVR Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of CVR Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Sell” and an average target price of $29.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn purchased 275,012 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.41 per share, for a total transaction of $5,888,006.92. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 71,201,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,524,432,143.75. The trade was a 0.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 783,404 shares of company stock worth $16,445,044. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

CVR Energy Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of CVI stock opened at $25.00 on Wednesday. CVR Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.10 and a fifty-two week high of $41.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.16 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95.

CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.84) by $0.04. CVR Energy had a net margin of 0.38% and a negative return on equity of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that CVR Energy Inc. will post -0.12 EPS for the current year.

CVR Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.9%.

CVR Energy Company Profile

CVR Energy, Inc is an independent downstream energy company engaged primarily in petroleum refining and nitrogen fertilizer production in the United States. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy operates through two reportable segments—Petroleum Products and Nitrogen Fertilizers—leveraging its refining expertise and distribution network to serve both wholesale and retail markets across key regions in the U.S.

In its Petroleum Products segment, the company owns and operates the Coffeyville, Kansas refinery, which has the capability to process various grades of crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products.