GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Sunday morning.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on GeoPark from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

GeoPark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPRK opened at $11.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.15. GeoPark has a 52 week low of $7.24 and a 52 week high of $11.72. The stock has a market cap of $565.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.61 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 EPS 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 business had revenue of $159.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.99 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that GeoPark will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GeoPark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.147 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.32%. GeoPark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in GeoPark during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of GeoPark during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of GeoPark in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in GeoPark by 392.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,974 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in GeoPark during the third quarter worth approximately $148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.21% of the company’s stock.

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.