Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PBR. Bank of America raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $18.70 to $24.80 in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $20.30 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $13.10 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.35.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of PBR opened at $18.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $120.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.38. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 52 week low of $11.03 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.29.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $23.54 billion for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a return on equity of 23.65% and a net margin of 21.67%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.1426 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

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

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,637,308 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $363,052,000 after buying an additional 10,425,563 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,975,177 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $224,856,000 after buying an additional 166,472 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 12,655,094 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $149,963,000 after buying an additional 1,562,473 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter valued at $126,355,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 5,335,330 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $63,224,000 after buying an additional 462,889 shares during the last quarter.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Company Profile

Petro?leo 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.