GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) Short Interest Up 81.7% in June

GeoPark Limited (NYSE:GPRK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 767,700 shares, a growth of 81.7% from the May 31st total of 422,500 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 502,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GeoPark

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of GeoPark during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of GeoPark during the first quarter valued at approximately $192,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of GeoPark by 40.6% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of GeoPark during the first quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of GeoPark by 67.8% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 148,060 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 59,834 shares in the last quarter. 68.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GPRK. StockNews.com raised GeoPark from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of GeoPark in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GeoPark currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $13.17.

GeoPark Trading Down 0.7 %

GPRK stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 381,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 450,601. The company has a market cap of $605.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $10.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47. GeoPark has a 12 month low of $8.05 and a 12 month high of $11.25.

GeoPark (NYSE:GPRK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The oil and gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $167.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $192.63 million. GeoPark had a return on equity of 67.81% and a net margin of 15.51%. On average, equities research analysts predict that GeoPark will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

GeoPark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.147 dividend. This is an increase from GeoPark’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. GeoPark’s payout ratio is presently 28.43%.

GeoPark Company Profile

GeoPark Limited engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador. GeoPark Limited has a strategic partnership with ONGC Videsh to jointly acquire, invest in, and create value from upstream oil and gas projects across Latin America.