Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen
by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat GemWall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.
A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on EC. Zacks Research upgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 target price on Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecopetrol has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.35.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Ecopetrol
Ecopetrol Price Performance
EC opened at $13.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.56. Ecopetrol has a 12-month low of $7.80 and a 12-month high of $15.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.49.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 7.64%.The firm had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts predict that Ecopetrol will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecopetrol Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be given a $0.6612 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 436.0%. Ecopetrol’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.55%.
Institutional Trading of Ecopetrol
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at $93,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at $333,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at $324,000. AXA S.A. purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at $271,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,190,268 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,534,000 after purchasing an additional 102,505 shares during 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.