Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $19.28.

Several brokerages have issued reports on PBR. Bank of America upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $18.70 to $24.80 in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $20.30 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE PBR opened at $16.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $22.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.80. The stock has a market cap of $107.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.32.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 21.67% and a return on equity of 23.65%. The firm had revenue of $23.54 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.72 EPS for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.1426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is 11.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,637,308 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $363,052,000 after buying an additional 10,425,563 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,975,177 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $224,856,000 after buying an additional 166,472 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 12,655,094 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $149,963,000 after buying an additional 1,562,473 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the first quarter worth $126,355,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 5,335,330 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $63,224,000 after buying an additional 462,889 shares during the period.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Company Profile

Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras is a Brazilian, state-controlled integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1953, Petrobras is principally engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and operates across the full value chain from upstream activities through refining, transportation and downstream marketing of petroleum products. The company is a major player in Brazil’s energy sector and is a listed public company with global capital market presence.

Petrobras’s core activities include deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration and production, where it has been a pioneer in developing pre-salt reserves off Brazil’s coast.