Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.14 EPS

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The oil and gas company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.14), FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.01 billion. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 8.70% and a return on equity of 12.39%.

Ecopetrol Price Performance

Ecopetrol stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.88. The company had a trading volume of 2,790,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,307,535. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.86. Ecopetrol has a 1-year low of $8.27 and a 1-year high of $15.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.47 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 29th were paid a $0.6612 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 481.0%. Ecopetrol’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ecopetrol by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,407,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $14,107,000 after acquiring an additional 41,075 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Ecopetrol by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,190,268 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $10,534,000 after acquiring an additional 102,505 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Ecopetrol by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,639 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,375,000 after acquiring an additional 64,614 shares during the period. Militia Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Militia Capital Partners LP now owns 556,200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 77,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 109.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 466,266 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after purchasing an additional 244,106 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on EC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. HSBC raised shares of Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.40.

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.