Encana Corporation (ECA) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC reissued their overweight rating on shares of Encana Corporation (NYSE:ECA) (TSE:ECA) in a report published on Saturday. The firm currently has a $8.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock.

ECA has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a buy rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Encana Corporation in a report on Monday, May 29th. Scotiabank upgraded Encana Corporation from an underperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 30th. TD Securities cut their price target on Encana Corporation from $12.50 to $11.50 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. BidaskClub upgraded Encana Corporation from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Desjardins restated a hold rating and set a $13.75 price target on shares of Encana Corporation in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $13.42.

Encana Corporation (ECA) opened at 9.95 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.02 and its 200 day moving average is $10.97. Encana Corporation has a 52-week low of $7.50 and a 52-week high of $13.85. The company has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 2.02.

Encana Corporation (NYSE:ECA) (TSE:ECA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 21st. The oil and gas company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.15. Encana Corporation had a return on equity of 6.37% and a net margin of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $773.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Encana Corporation will post $0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. Encana Corporation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.98%.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Hughes Medical Institute boosted its position in Encana Corporation by 0.3% in the first quarter. Howard Hughes Medical Institute now owns 144,220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,689,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. boosted its position in Encana Corporation by 288.7% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 103,320 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 76,742 shares in the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its position in Encana Corporation by 23.7% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 284,512 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,324,000 after buying an additional 54,490 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Asset Management Co. boosted its position in Encana Corporation by 0.8% in the first quarter. Capstone Asset Management Co. now owns 81,900 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Encana Corporation by 3,857.3% in the first quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 17,531 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 17,088 shares in the last quarter. 72.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Encana Corporation Company Profile

Encana Corporation is an energy producer that is focused on developing its multi-basin portfolio of natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) producing plays. The Company’s operations also include the marketing of natural gas, oil and NGLs. All of its reserves and production are located in North America.