Barclays PLC Acquires 7,151 Shares of GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK)

Barclays PLC lifted its stake in GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) by 392.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,974 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in GeoPark were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPRK. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in GeoPark in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc increased its stake in shares of GeoPark by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc now owns 187,726 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 4,859 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of GeoPark in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in GeoPark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in GeoPark during the second quarter valued at approximately $244,000. 68.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GPRK shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GeoPark from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on GeoPark from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

GeoPark Price Performance

Shares of GPRK opened at $11.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.18. GeoPark Limited has a 52-week low of $7.24 and a 52-week high of $11.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $575.07 million, a PE ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 1.35.

GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.11). GeoPark had a net margin of 14.97% and a return on equity of 57.93%. The company had revenue of $159.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.99 million. Sell-side analysts predict that GeoPark Limited will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GeoPark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.147 per share. This represents a $0.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. GeoPark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.44%.

About GeoPark

GeoPark Limited operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company primarily in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries. It engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves. The company was formerly known as GeoPark Holdings Limited and changed its name to GeoPark Limited in July 2013.