GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on GeoPark from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

GeoPark Stock Performance

GeoPark stock opened at $7.99 on Thursday. GeoPark has a fifty-two week low of $7.24 and a fifty-two week high of $11.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $442.07 million, a P/E ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.32.

GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $190.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.74 million. GeoPark had a return on equity of 60.77% and a net margin of 14.28%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that GeoPark will post 3.18 EPS for the current year.

GeoPark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.147 per share. This represents a $0.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. GeoPark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.43%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GeoPark

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GPRK. Carmignac Gestion grew its stake in GeoPark by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 1,118,884 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,589,000 after purchasing an additional 120,000 shares in the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of GeoPark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $460,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in GeoPark in the second quarter worth approximately $2,261,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in GeoPark by 40.6% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 85,080 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 24,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in GeoPark in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 68.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About GeoPark

GeoPark Limited engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador. GeoPark Limited has a strategic partnership with ONGC Videsh to jointly acquire, invest in, and create value from upstream oil and gas projects across Latin America.