Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) versus Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Critical Contrast

Permianville Royalty Trust (NYSE:PVL) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Permianville Royalty Trust has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ecopetrol has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Permianville Royalty Trust and Ecopetrol, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Permianville Royalty Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A
Ecopetrol	2	4	0	0	1.67

Ecopetrol has a consensus target price of $11.27, suggesting a potential downside of 3.87%. Given Ecopetrol’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ecopetrol is more favorable than Permianville Royalty Trust.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Permianville Royalty Trust and Ecopetrol’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Permianville Royalty Trust	$45.21 million	1.20	$10.60 million	$0.43	3.84
Ecopetrol	$143,189.60 billion	0.00	$25.27 billion	$2.33	5.03

Ecopetrol has higher revenue and earnings than Permianville Royalty Trust. Permianville Royalty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ecopetrol, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Permianville Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Ecopetrol pays an annual dividend of $2.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.2%. Permianville Royalty Trust pays out 9.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ecopetrol pays out 91.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

6.8% of Permianville Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Permianville Royalty Trust and Ecopetrol’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Permianville Royalty Trust	31.22%	24.89%	24.89%
Ecopetrol	14.69%	66.73%	23.50%

Summary

Ecopetrol beats Permianville Royalty Trust on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Permianville Royalty Trust

Permianville Royalty Trust operates as a statutory trust. It is involved in the acquisition and holding of net profits interest representing the right to receive 80% of the net profits from the sale of oil and natural gas production from properties located in the states of Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. The company was formerly known as Enduro Royalty Trust and changed its name to Permianville Royalty Trust in September 2018. Permianville Royalty Trust was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated energy company. The company operates through four segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels; and Electric Power Transmission and Toll Roads Concessions. It engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas; transportation of crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, including diesel, jet, and biofuels; processing and refining crude oil; distribution of natural gas and LPG; sale of refined and petrochemical products; supplying of electric power transmission services; design, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of road and energy infrastructure projects; and supplying of information technology and telecommunications services. As of December 31, 2022, the company had approximately 9,127 kilometers of crude oil and multi-purpose pipelines. It also produces and commercializes polypropylene resins and compounds, and masterbatches; and offers industrial service sales to customers and specialized management services. It has operations in Colombia, the United States, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, and South America. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de Petróleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia.