Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Issues Earnings Results

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The oil and gas company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.06, FiscalAI reports. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 14.50%. The firm had revenue of $10.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.45 billion.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Ecopetrol stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $15.35. 1,595,062 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,804,940. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.23. Ecopetrol has a fifty-two week low of $9.20 and a fifty-two week high of $18.38. The stock has a market cap of $31.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.45.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $9.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Ecopetrol from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecopetrol from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.95.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

Ecopetrol S.A. is an integrated energy company headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia. Founded in 1951, it is majority-owned by the Colombian government and is one of the country’s major producers of oil and natural gas. The company explores for and produces hydrocarbons, transports them through pipeline networks, and refines crude oil into products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Its operations also include petrochemicals and natural gas activities, with refining facilities in Colombia. Ecopetrol’s business is centered in Colombia, with additional oil and gas activities in other countries.