27,453 Shares in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Acquired by Triumph Capital Management

Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 27,453 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ecopetrol by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,086,272 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $35,739,000 after buying an additional 29,731 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 490,047 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,675,000 after purchasing an additional 134,531 shares during the last quarter. Sagil Capital LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,691,000. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 47.2% in the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 349,486 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 112,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 369.3% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 277,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,217,000 after purchasing an additional 218,600 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ecopetrol from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut Ecopetrol from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $11.00 to $8.50 in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Ecopetrol from $10.30 to $11.90 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.27.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Ecopetrol stock opened at $11.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.90. Ecopetrol S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.59 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 10.84% and a net margin of 14.77%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th will be given a $0.7999 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 19.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 25th. Ecopetrol’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.44%.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

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.