Ecopetrol Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:EC)

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 15,570 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 339% compared to the average volume of 3,548 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on EC shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. HSBC raised shares of Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EC. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecopetrol during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 301.3% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,928 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 221.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,898 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 2,685 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the 4th quarter worth approximately $88,000.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE EC opened at $15.95 on Wednesday. Ecopetrol has a one year low of $8.27 and a one year high of $16.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.46.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 8.70% and a return on equity of 12.39%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecopetrol will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecopetrol Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th were issued a $0.6612 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a dividend yield of 481.0%. Ecopetrol’s payout ratio is 54.62%.

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.