Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

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

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EC. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ecopetrol from $8.50 to $7.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecopetrol presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

NYSE EC opened at $7.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.44 billion, a PE ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Ecopetrol has a twelve month low of $7.26 and a twelve month high of $13.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.32.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $8.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.49 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecopetrol will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barings LLC acquired a new stake in Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,830,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,890,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 74,194 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 29,651 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 2,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,192,000.

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.