Wellington Management Group LLP Makes New Investment in Ecopetrol S.A. $EC

Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 120,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Ramsey Quantitative Systems purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter worth $58,000. Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in Ecopetrol during the fourth quarter valued at about $88,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ecopetrol during the second quarter valued at about $93,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Zacks Research raised Ecopetrol from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ecopetrol in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Citigroup downgraded Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $13.54.

Ecopetrol Stock Down 2.0%

EC opened at $17.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 52 week low of $8.57 and a 52 week high of $18.19.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 11.46%. Analysts forecast that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

Ecopetrol SA is an integrated energy company based in Colombia and one of the country’s principal producers of oil and natural gas. Its activities include exploration and production of hydrocarbons, crude oil and fuel transportation, refining, petrochemicals, and the distribution and marketing of petroleum products and natural gas.

The company operates through a broad energy infrastructure network that includes pipelines, storage facilities, refineries, ports, and other midstream assets.