Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Invests $839,000 in Ecopetrol S.A. $EC

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 56,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ecopetrol by 41.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 64,897 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 18,895 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the first quarter worth $3,583,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter worth $1,948,000. Compound Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter worth $665,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter worth $6,542,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ecopetrol from $13.50 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $13.14.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Ecopetrol stock opened at $16.75 on Friday. Ecopetrol S.A. has a 1 year low of $8.27 and a 1 year high of $17.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.06. The company has a market cap of $34.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 8.84% and a return on equity of 12.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.05 EPS for the current 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.