Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Short Interest Up 8.3% in September

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 12,400,000 shares, an increase of 8.3% from the September 15th total of 11,450,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecopetrol

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecopetrol by 42.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109,263 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after buying an additional 32,766 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Ecopetrol by 2.7% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 46,864 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Straight Path Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 7.4% during the second quarter. Straight Path Wealth Management now owns 14,600 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,192,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Ecopetrol by 39.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,520 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 6,629 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on EC. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com cut Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $8.50 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.83.

Ecopetrol Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of EC stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $8.16. 2,432,344 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,011,554. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.20. Ecopetrol has a 12-month low of $8.13 and a 12-month high of $13.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.80.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $8.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.49 billion. Ecopetrol had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 13.92%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecopetrol will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

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.