Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Announces $0.52 — Dividend

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) declared a — dividend on Friday, March 14th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of 0.5202 per share by the oil and gas company on Monday, July 7th. This represents a yield of 30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th.

Ecopetrol has increased its dividend by an average of 155.2% annually over the last three years.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of EC traded up $0.37 on Friday, reaching $10.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,552,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,290,487. Ecopetrol has a 12-month low of $7.21 and a 12-month high of $12.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ecopetrol from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $7.50 to $9.50 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upgraded Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecopetrol from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Ecopetrol Company Profile

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.