Essex Financial Services Inc. Invests $380,000 in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 23,820 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the 3rd quarter worth $85,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 3rd quarter worth $106,000. Payden & Rygel Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the third quarter valued at about $153,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the third quarter valued at about $162,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PBR shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America lowered Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, HSBC raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.76.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Price Performance

NYSE:PBR opened at $16.45 on Friday. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 52-week low of $10.03 and a 52-week high of $17.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.90 and its 200 day moving average is $15.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $27.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.45 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 34.44%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.3406 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 16.25%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is currently 21.99%.

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.