KBC Group NV Grows Position in Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV)

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Ovintiv Inc. (NYSE:OVV) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 394,893 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 61,686 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ovintiv were worth $15,993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OVV. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Ovintiv by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 196,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,529,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 16.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 270,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,527,000 after purchasing an additional 37,341 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Ovintiv by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,303,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,476,000 after buying an additional 212,535 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Ovintiv by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 320,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,288,000 after buying an additional 13,536 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in Ovintiv by 319.9% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 149,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,726,000 after buying an additional 113,866 shares during the last quarter. 83.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded shares of Ovintiv to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Ovintiv from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ovintiv from $48.00 to $42.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Ovintiv from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Ovintiv from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ovintiv has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.81.

Ovintiv Stock Up 0.6 %

OVV opened at $43.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 2.63. Ovintiv Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.90 and a twelve month high of $55.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.76. Ovintiv had a return on equity of 17.87% and a net margin of 20.15%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ovintiv Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ovintiv Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ovintiv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.92%.

Ovintiv Company Profile

Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta.