MQS Management LLC Invests $125,000 in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 10,562 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its position 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 valued at $145,537,000 after purchasing an additional 105,172 shares in the last quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter valued at $1,302,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Ecopetrol by 74.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 208,230 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 88,710 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC raised its position in Ecopetrol by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 104,714 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in Ecopetrol by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 74,194 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 29,651 shares in the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:EC traded up $0.08 on Thursday, reaching $10.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,540,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,992,276. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 52-week low of $10.29 and a 52-week high of $13.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.96 billion, a PE ratio of 4.64, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.09). Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 14.35%. The business had revenue of $7.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.19 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Ecopetrol from $10.30 to $11.90 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America downgraded Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.27.

Ecopetrol 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.