Citigroup Lowers Ecopetrol (EC) to Sell

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) was downgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on EC. TheStreet raised Ecopetrol from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Zacks Investment Research raised Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. HSBC downgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. UBS Group downgraded Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Ecopetrol in a research report on Tuesday, November 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.40.

Shares of Ecopetrol (EC) traded down $1.24 during trading on Monday, reaching $17.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,250,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,133,471. The company has a market cap of $38,259.09, a P/E ratio of 39.48, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Ecopetrol has a 12 month low of $8.44 and a 12 month high of $20.55.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth $103,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth $147,000. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth $147,000. Virtu KCG Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Virtu KCG Holdings LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 126.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 19,569 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 10,919 shares in the last quarter. 2.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Ecopetrol Company Profile

Ecopetrol SA is an oil company. The Company operates in Colombia, Peru, Brazil and the United States Gulf Coast. The Company’s segments include Exploration and Production, Transportation and Logistics, and Refining, Petrochemicals and Biofuels. The Company’s Exploration and Production segment includes exploration, development and production activities in Colombia and abroad.