Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.52 Per Share

Ecopetrol S.A. (NYSE:EC) declared a — dividend on Thursday, March 13th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.5202 per share by the oil and gas company on Friday, April 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a 7.0% increase from Ecopetrol’s previous — dividend of $0.49.

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

Ecopetrol Stock Performance

Shares of EC opened at $10.15 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a PE ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.74. Ecopetrol has a one year low of $7.21 and a one year high of $12.90.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.