Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK) Stock Short Interest Report for September

Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,334,819 shares, a growth of 95.0% from the September 15th total of 1,197,354 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 890,214 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 4.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GPRK shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Geopark in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Geopark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Geopark in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.00.

Geopark Stock Performance

Geopark stock traded up $0.21 on Friday, reaching $11.74. 504,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 786,426. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.08. The stock has a market cap of $607.23 million, a PE ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Geopark has a twelve month low of $5.75 and a twelve month high of $13.13.

Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $143.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $185.50 million. Geopark had a return on equity of 31.33% and a net margin of 16.00%.

Geopark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.0230 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Geopark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Geopark news, Director James Park sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.92, for a total transaction of $1,192,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 692,118 shares in the company, valued at $8,250,046.56. This trade represents a 12.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geopark

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Geopark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ramsey Quantitative Systems acquired a new stake in shares of Geopark during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $143,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Geopark during the 1st quarter worth approximately $159,000. Pale Fire Capital SE bought a new position in Geopark in the 1st quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Geopark in the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. 68.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Geopark Company Profile

GeoPark Limited is an independent Latin American oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Its activities include identifying hydrocarbon resources, acquiring and developing exploration and production assets, drilling wells, and producing and selling crude oil and natural gas.

Founded in 2002, GeoPark has built a portfolio of operated and non-operated assets in several South American markets. The company has been particularly associated with oil and gas operations in Colombia’s Llanos Basin and Brazil’s onshore basins, while its broader history includes exploration and production activities in other Latin American countries.

GeoPark’s operations generally encompass the full upstream process, including geological and seismic evaluation, field development, well drilling, production management, and the operation of related infrastructure.