Analysts Set Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) PT at $16.76

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.76.

PBR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. HSBC raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America lowered Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th.

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

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras stock opened at $17.32 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $15.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a one year low of $10.01 and a one year high of $17.91.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $27.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.45 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a return on equity of 34.44% and a net margin of 24.30%. Research analysts forecast that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.2084 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.81%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,758,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 6,811,783 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $108,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145,021 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 6,278,919 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $95,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,108 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 4,378,375 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $65,632,000 after acquiring an additional 175,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,049,000.

About Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

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.