Geopark Ltd $GPRK Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK) by 73.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,304 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC owned approximately 0.41% of Geopark worth $1,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geopark during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Geopark during the 1st quarter worth $100,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Geopark in the 2nd quarter worth $113,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Geopark in the first quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geopark in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $207,000. 68.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Geopark Stock Performance

Shares of GPRK opened at $8.02 on Thursday. Geopark Ltd has a 1 year low of $5.66 and a 1 year high of $11.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.82. The company has a market capitalization of $410.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.11. Geopark had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 35.65%. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.00 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Geopark Ltd will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Geopark Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Geopark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GPRK shares. Santander started coverage on Geopark in a report on Friday, August 29th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Geopark in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Geopark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Geopark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Geopark Profile

GeoPark Limited operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company primarily in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries. It engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves. The company was formerly known as GeoPark Holdings Limited and changed its name to GeoPark Limited in July 2013.