Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.35.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. HSBC upgraded Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th.

Institutional Trading of Ecopetrol

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $991,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its position 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 valued at $3,342,000 after purchasing an additional 212,904 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 69,760 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 448,060 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,965,000 after buying an additional 81,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 520,754 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,796,000 after buying an additional 69,080 shares in the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

EC opened at $14.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $13.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecopetrol has a 12-month low of $7.80 and a 12-month high of $15.62.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 7.64%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecopetrol will post 1.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecopetrol Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $0.6612 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 436.0%. Ecopetrol’s payout ratio is currently 126.89%.

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.