Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $14.61, but opened at $15.90. Ecopetrol shares last traded at $16.2310, with a volume of 1,646,826 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.57.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $33.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.27.

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 net margin of 8.70% and a return on equity of 12.39%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fundamenta Capital S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,135,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,542,000. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Ecopetrol by 833.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 341,880 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after buying an additional 305,266 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Ecopetrol by 109.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 466,266 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after buying an additional 244,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Ecopetrol during the first quarter valued at $3,583,000.

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.