UBS Group AG Has $4.70 Million Stake in Ecopetrol S.A. $EC

UBS Group AG decreased its stake in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 469,130 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 146,662 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Ecopetrol were worth $4,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at about $93,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at about $333,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at about $324,000. AXA S.A. acquired a new position in Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at about $271,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Ecopetrol by 9.4% in the second 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 buying an additional 102,505 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EC shares. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price target on Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. HSBC raised Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ecopetrol from $10.00 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research raised Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.40.

Ecopetrol Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:EC opened at $13.90 on Friday. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 52-week low of $8.27 and a 52-week high of $15.62. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.07. The company has a market cap of $28.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.68, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.46.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 8.70%.The firm had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th were given a dividend of $0.6612 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 481.0%. Ecopetrol’s dividend payout ratio is 53.78%.

About Ecopetrol

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.