Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) by 77.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 366,380 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 159,861 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.66% of GeoPark worth $2,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPRK. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of GeoPark during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of GeoPark during the second quarter valued at about $460,000. Deltec Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GeoPark by 997.3% in the third quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 131,678 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 119,678 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of GeoPark by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 85,080 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 24,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in GeoPark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,929,000. 68.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GPRK shares. StockNews.com lowered GeoPark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of GeoPark from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

GeoPark Price Performance

GPRK opened at $8.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.21. GeoPark Limited has a 52-week low of $7.24 and a 52-week high of $11.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $459.96 million, a PE ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.28.

GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The oil and gas company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.11). GeoPark had a return on equity of 57.93% and a net margin of 14.97%. The company had revenue of $159.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.99 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that GeoPark Limited will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

GeoPark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.147 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.54%. GeoPark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.44%.

GeoPark Company Profile

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.