Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PBR)

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 258,918 call options on the company. This is an increase of 271% compared to the typical volume of 69,869 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PBR. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 109,540.6% during the 2nd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 6,964,368 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $96,317,000 after buying an additional 6,958,016 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the third quarter worth about $62,049,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 117.2% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 5,666,762 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $84,945,000 after purchasing an additional 3,057,798 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,221,292 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $404,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,582,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,559,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.57% of the company’s stock.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras stock traded down $0.26 on Tuesday, reaching $15.84. 14,243,423 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,129,986. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.07. The company has a market cap of $103.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.58. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 1-year low of $8.88 and a 1-year high of $16.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be given a $0.243 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 22nd. This is an increase from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. This represents a $0.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bradesco Corretora raised shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $15.00 to $14.50 in a report on Friday, August 4th. HSBC upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Bank of America raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.34.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Company Profile

Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras explores, produces, and sells oil and gas in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through Exploration and Production; Refining, Transportation and Marketing; and Gas and Power. It also engages in prospecting, drilling, refining, processing, trading, and transporting crude oil from producing onshore and offshore oil fields, and shale or other rocks, as well as oil products, natural gas, and other liquid hydrocarbons.