Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC)

Key Points

• Traders bought an unusually large volume of calls on Ecopetrol — 11,111 call options were purchased on Tuesday, about 292% above the stock's average daily call volume.
• Analysts are mixed on EC with recent upgrades and downgrades leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $10.35.
• Ecopetrol announced an annual dividend of $0.6612 per share payable May 7 (ex-dividend April 29), which the article reports as a 436.0% yield.

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 11,111 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 292% compared to the average daily volume of 2,832 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on EC shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecopetrol from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecopetrol from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Ecopetrol to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell 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 $10.35.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EC. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 301.3% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,928 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 221.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,898 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 2,685 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of EC stock traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $13.95. 2,004,122 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,374,461. Ecopetrol has a 12 month low of $7.80 and a 12 month high of $15.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $13.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.49.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 10.89%. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecopetrol will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ecopetrol Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 29th will be issued a $0.6612 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 436.0%. Ecopetrol's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.46%.

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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