Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Declares Annual Dividend of $0.52

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) declared an annual dividend on Wednesday, April 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.5202 per share by the oil and gas company on Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a dividend yield of 34.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th.

Ecopetrol has raised its dividend by an average of 155.2% per year over the last three years.

Ecopetrol Price Performance

EC stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $8.49. The company had a trading volume of 772,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,329,628. Ecopetrol has a 1-year low of $7.21 and a 1-year high of $12.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $17.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on EC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ecopetrol from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $7.50 to $9.50 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.00.

About Ecopetrol

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.