Cenovus ups your dividend

Article Excerpt

CENOVUS ENERGY $11.40, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $14.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.2%; www.cenovus.com) continues to do a good job of paying down the loans it took out in May 2017 to buy full control of its main Alberta oil sands properties—Christina Lake and Foster Creek. To address its debt load, the company has sold several less-important properties and aggressively cut its operating costs. Those moves have let Cenovus slash its long-term debt from $9.5 billion at the end of 2017 to $6.5 billion as of June 30, 2019. Thanks to the company’s improved position, investors will now get a whopping 25% increase in their quarterly dividend. It rises to $0.0625 a share from $0.05. The new annual dividend rate of $0.25 yields 2.2%. You should also expect Cenovus to lift that yearly rate by 5% to 10% annually. annually…