Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 850,753 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 158,585 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Ecopetrol were worth $6,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,147,859 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $24,931,000 after acquiring an additional 96,909 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ecopetrol by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 696,412 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,516,000 after purchasing an additional 271,296 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 540,695 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,282,000 after buying an additional 7,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 341,687 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,706,000 after buying an additional 25,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 4th quarter valued at $2,060,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ecopetrol from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $7.50 to $9.50 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecopetrol presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.00.

Ecopetrol Price Performance

Ecopetrol stock opened at $9.13 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.79. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 12 month low of $7.21 and a 12 month high of $12.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.86.

Ecopetrol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $0.5202 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 34.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. Ecopetrol’s payout ratio is 79.90%.

About Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol SA operates as an integrated energy company. The company operates through four segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels; and Electric Power Transmission and Toll Roads Concessions. It engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas; transportation of crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, including diesel, jet, and biofuels; processing and refining crude oil; distribution of natural gas and LPG; sale of refined and petrochemical products; supplying of electric power transmission services; design, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of road and energy infrastructure projects; and supplying of information technology and telecommunications services.