Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 366,380 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 159,861 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in GeoPark were worth $2,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in GeoPark during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in GeoPark during the second quarter worth $35,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in GeoPark by 3,251.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 379,483 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,139,000 after purchasing an additional 368,161 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of GeoPark by 1.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,246,617 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $35,550,000 after purchasing an additional 61,454 shares during the period. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of GeoPark in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 68.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPRK has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of GeoPark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on GeoPark from $12.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

GeoPark Trading Up 3.9 %

GeoPark stock opened at $10.54 on Friday. GeoPark Limited has a 52-week low of $7.24 and a 52-week high of $11.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $539.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.17.

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

GeoPark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.147 dividend. This represents a $0.59 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. GeoPark’s payout ratio is currently 29.95%.

GeoPark 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.