43,200 Shares in Ecopetrol S.A. $EC Acquired by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new stake in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 43,200 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $398,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $271,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 224,071 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,064,000 after purchasing an additional 6,580 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,554 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 241,522 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,224,000 after purchasing an additional 20,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 31.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,764 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 3,306 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on EC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $8.70 price target on shares of Ecopetrol in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecopetrol has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.35.

Ecopetrol Trading Up 5.1%

EC opened at $13.56 on Thursday. Ecopetrol S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $7.80 and a fifty-two week high of $13.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.05 and its 200 day moving average is $10.37.

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.