Earnest Partners LLC Sells 37,359 Shares of Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC)

Earnest Partners LLC cut its position in Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473,444 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 37,359 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecopetrol were worth $5,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EC. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ecopetrol in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecopetrol by 258.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,697 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecopetrol by 58.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 2,355 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecopetrol during the 1st quarter worth approximately $125,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecopetrol in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $141,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on EC shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ecopetrol from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $8.50 in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Ecopetrol from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Ecopetrol from $11.00 to $9.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecopetrol presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $8.83.

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of Ecopetrol stock opened at $8.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Ecopetrol S.A. has a twelve month low of $8.65 and a twelve month high of $13.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.94 and its 200 day moving average is $11.05.

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.