SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Buys 13,293 Shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) by 30.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,252 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 13,293 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecopetrol were worth $666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecopetrol by 369.3% in the third 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. Toroso Investments LLC raised its position in Ecopetrol by 5.4% in the third quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 80,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 4,160 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ecopetrol by 96.8% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 56,025 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 27,559 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Ecopetrol by 20.4% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 58,220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 9,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 47.0% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 24,385 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 7,800 shares in the last quarter.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of Ecopetrol stock opened at $11.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.76. Ecopetrol S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $9.92 and a fifty-two week high of $13.14.

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). The company had revenue of $7.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.19 billion. Ecopetrol had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 8.82%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecopetrol S.A. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $10.30 to $11.90 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Bank of America lowered shares of Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.