Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 3,415 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,574% compared to the average volume of 204 call options.
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,350 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 901 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 11,308 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 19,941 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 18,805 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,006 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.26% of the company’s stock.
A number of research firms have issued reports on EC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $16.50 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $14.70 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 15th. Zacks Investment Research raised Ecopetrol from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, TheStreet lowered Ecopetrol from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.40.
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NYSE:EC traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $14.36. 122,844 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 772,599. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Ecopetrol has a 1 year low of $11.37 and a 1 year high of $15.91.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 9th. The oil and gas company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.06 billion. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 15.03%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecopetrol will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.
Ecopetrol Company Profile
Ecopetrol SA engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Exploration and Production, Transportation and Logistics, and Refining and Petrochemicals. The Exploration and Production segment deals with oil and gas exploration and production activities.
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