Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $11.00 to $13.00. The stock had previously closed at $14.61, but opened at $15.90. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Ecopetrol shares last traded at $16.2310, with a volume of 1,646,826 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on EC. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. HSBC raised shares of Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.93.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EC. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 4th quarter valued at about $991,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 141.9% in 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 last quarter. Fundamenta Capital S.A. purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,135,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 69,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 69,080 shares during the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.31. The company has a market cap of $32.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.55.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 8.70%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Ecopetrol Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th were paid a $0.6612 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 481.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 29th. Ecopetrol’s payout ratio is currently 54.62%.

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.