Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $15.41 and last traded at $15.4250, with a volume of 3143262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on EC. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. HSBC raised Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $8.70 price objective on shares of Ecopetrol in a report on Monday, December 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.35.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 0.0%

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.61 and a beta of 0.64. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 7.64%.The company had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fundamenta Capital S.A. bought a new position in Ecopetrol in the fourth quarter valued at $20,135,000. Oaktree Capital Management LP lifted its position in Ecopetrol by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 3,549,822 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $31,416,000 after buying an additional 387,700 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 833.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 341,880 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,149,000 after buying an additional 305,266 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 109.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 466,266 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 244,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 141.9% in the 3rd quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 362,904 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,342,000 after acquiring an additional 212,904 shares in the last quarter.

About Ecopetrol

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.