Anfield Capital Management LLC Has $226,000 Stock Position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC)

Anfield Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,949 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Anfield Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecopetrol were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EC. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 20.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 58,220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 9,878 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 37.8% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 490,047 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,675,000 after buying an additional 134,531 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ecopetrol by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,086,272 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $35,739,000 after buying an additional 29,731 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ecopetrol during the 3rd quarter worth $131,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 47.0% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 24,385 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Up 1.8 %

Ecopetrol stock opened at $11.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 1-year low of $8.59 and a 1-year high of $13.14.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The oil and gas company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 66.73% and a net margin of 14.69%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 25th will be issued a $0.7999 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 19.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 25th. Ecopetrol’s payout ratio is 92.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on EC shares. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ecopetrol from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $8.50 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ecopetrol from $10.30 to $11.90 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ecopetrol from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.27.

Ecopetrol Profile

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.