Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New Investment in Ecopetrol S.A. $EC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 129,973 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,948,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ping Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Ping Capital Management Inc. now owns 41,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ecopetrol by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 119,784 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecopetrol by 34.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecopetrol by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 13,676 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecopetrol by 221.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,898 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 2,685 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EC shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Zacks Research cut Ecopetrol from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group lifted 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, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $13.14.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of EC opened at $16.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.45. Ecopetrol S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.27 and a twelve month high of $17.75. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.06.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 8.84% and a return on equity of 12.38%. On average, analysts forecast that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecopetrol 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.