Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,790,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the May 31st total of 9,150,000 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Ecopetrol in the 4th quarter worth $15,652,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecopetrol by 369.3% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 277,800 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,217,000 after purchasing an additional 218,600 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP raised its holdings in Ecopetrol by 136.6% during the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 334,527 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,988,000 after buying an additional 193,150 shares during the period. Anthracite Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecopetrol during the first quarter valued at about $1,302,000. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 0.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 12,291,956 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $145,537,000 after buying an additional 105,172 shares during the period.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EC traded up $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $11.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,390,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,035,988. The company has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.58. Ecopetrol has a 12 month low of $9.92 and a 12 month high of $13.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $11.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.76.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.09). Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 8.82% and a net margin of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $7.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.19 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecopetrol will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on EC. Bank of America cut Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Ecopetrol from $10.30 to $11.90 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.27.

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.