Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $11.40.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $10.00 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. HSBC upgraded shares of Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the fourth quarter worth $991,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 141.9% during the third quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 362,904 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 212,904 shares during the period. Fundamenta Capital S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the fourth quarter worth $20,135,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 247.8% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 97,912 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 69,760 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 15.3% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 520,754 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,796,000 after acquiring an additional 69,080 shares during the period.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE EC opened at $12.65 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.77. Ecopetrol has a fifty-two week low of $8.10 and a fifty-two week high of $15.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Ecopetrol will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Ecopetrol Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th were issued a $0.6612 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 481.0%. Ecopetrol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.78%.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

Ecopetrol SA (NYSE: EC) is Colombia’s state-controlled integrated oil and gas company and the country’s largest oil producer. The company’s operations span the upstream, midstream and downstream segments of the hydrocarbon value chain, including exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, refining of petroleum products, transportation and storage via pipeline networks, and the marketing and sale of fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Ecopetrol serves domestic demand in Colombia and maintains a portfolio of international investments and partnerships across the Americas.

In upstream activities, Ecopetrol focuses on exploration and development of onshore and offshore fields to sustain and grow hydrocarbon production.