Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC)

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors acquired 15,570 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 339% compared to the average daily volume of 3,548 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EC shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday. Bradesco Corretora set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Ecopetrol and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Ecopetrol to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecopetrol

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at $333,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at $324,000. AXA S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 2nd quarter valued at $271,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 9.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

NYSE:EC traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $16.09. 4,730,126 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,335,644. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.46. Ecopetrol has a twelve month low of $8.27 and a twelve month high of $16.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $14.08 and a 200 day moving average of $12.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its 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, analysts forecast that Ecopetrol will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Ecopetrol Announces Dividend

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