Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ecopetrol received a consensus “Reduce” rating from eight analysts: two recommended selling and six rated the stock as a hold. The average 12-month price target is $13.14.
• Recent analyst actions were mixed but generally cautious, including Zacks downgrading the shares to “strong sell” and Citigroup cutting its rating from “buy” to “neutral,” despite raising its price target to $18.
• The stock was trading at $17.12, near its 12-month high of $17.75, while the company reported quarterly revenue of $11.72 billion and earnings of $0.86 per share.

Shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.14.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Ecopetrol from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $14.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fundamenta Capital S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 4th quarter valued at $20,135,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the first quarter worth $6,542,000. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 833.7% during the third 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 during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 109.9% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Ecopetrol during the first quarter worth about $3,583,000.

Ecopetrol Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:EC opened at $17.12 on Tuesday. Ecopetrol has a 12 month low of $8.45 and a 12 month high of $17.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm's 50 day moving average is $15.81 and its 200 day moving average is $14.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.44.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 8.84%.The business had revenue of $11.72 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecopetrol will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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