Brokerages Set Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Target Price at $11.57

Shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.14.

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of 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 shares of Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fundamenta Capital S.A. acquired a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 4th quarter worth about $20,135,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,407,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 41,075 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 9.4% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,190,268 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,534,000 after acquiring an additional 102,505 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,639 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $9,375,000 after acquiring an additional 64,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Militia Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 16.1% during the second quarter. Militia Capital Partners LP now owns 556,200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,922,000 after acquiring an additional 77,000 shares in the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:EC opened at $15.63 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.16 and a 200-day moving average of $12.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $32.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.46. Ecopetrol has a twelve month low of $8.27 and a twelve month high of $16.45.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 8.70%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecopetrol will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Dividend Announcement

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