Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on EC. Citigroup lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $18.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Ecopetrol from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Ecopetrol from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $13.54.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of EC stock opened at $16.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.55. Ecopetrol has a fifty-two week low of $8.57 and a fifty-two week high of $18.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.49. The company has a market capitalization of $34.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.44.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The oil and gas company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $11.72 billion for the quarter. Analysts expect that Ecopetrol will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecopetrol by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 15,465 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecopetrol by 34.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 35,037 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,699 shares in the last quarter. Ramsey Quantitative Systems bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 12.0% in the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 45,011 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 4,835 shares during the last quarter.

About Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol SA is an integrated energy company based in Colombia and one of the country’s principal producers of oil and natural gas. Its activities include exploration and production of hydrocarbons, crude oil and fuel transportation, refining, petrochemicals, and the distribution and marketing of petroleum products and natural gas.

The company operates through a broad energy infrastructure network that includes pipelines, storage facilities, refineries, ports, and other midstream assets.