Empirical Finance LLC Boosts Stake in Geopark Ltd $GPRK

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Geopark Ltd (NYSE:GPRK) by 73.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,227 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 89,304 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Geopark were worth $1,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPRK. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Geopark by 139.9% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 594,154 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,801,000 after purchasing an additional 346,521 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc purchased a new position in shares of Geopark in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,351,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Geopark by 94.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 365,825 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,956,000 after acquiring an additional 177,496 shares during the period. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geopark during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,042,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Geopark by 115.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 284,962 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after purchasing an additional 152,520 shares during the period. 68.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Geopark Stock Up 3.0%

GPRK stock opened at $8.02 on Thursday. Geopark Ltd has a 12 month low of $5.66 and a 12 month high of $11.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.82. The firm has a market cap of $410.74 million, a PE ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.42.

Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The oil and gas company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.11. Geopark had a return on equity of 35.65% and a net margin of 7.70%.The firm had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.00 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Geopark Ltd will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Geopark Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 19th. Geopark’s payout ratio is currently 18.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GPRK. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Geopark in a research report on Monday. Santander assumed coverage on Geopark in a research report on Friday, August 29th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Geopark from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.