Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on EC. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ecopetrol from $8.50 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.50.

Ecopetrol Price Performance

NYSE EC traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $7.36. 3,408,960 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,468,188. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.34. Ecopetrol has a fifty-two week low of $7.33 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a PE ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.21.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.15). Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 9.42% and a net margin of 13.92%. The company had revenue of $8.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. Research analysts expect that Ecopetrol will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ecopetrol

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EC. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 31,872 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 4,996 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 66.6% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 74,194 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 29,651 shares during the last quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,302,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ecopetrol by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,291,956 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $145,537,000 after purchasing an additional 105,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 1st quarter worth approximately $125,000.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

Ecopetrol SA operates as an integrated energy company. The company operates through four segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels; and Electric Power Transmission and Toll Roads Concessions. It engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas; transportation of crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, including diesel, jet, and biofuels; processing and refining crude oil; distribution of natural gas and LPG; sale of refined and petrochemical products; supplying of electric power transmission services; design, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of road and energy infrastructure projects; and supplying of information technology and telecommunications services.