HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 51.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,725 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 49,357 shares during the quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras were worth $542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 196.6% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 434,136 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,145,000 after purchasing an additional 287,749 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 289,410 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after buying an additional 98,975 shares during the period. Cape Ann Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Cape Ann Asset Management Ltd now owns 574,311 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $6,472,000 after buying an additional 119,700 shares during the period. Advocate Investing Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter valued at about $147,000. Finally, DRW Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 207.5% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 203,796 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $2,415,000 after buying an additional 137,520 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PBR shares. Bank of America upgraded 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $20.30 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.28.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of PBR opened at $18.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $118.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 1 year low of $11.43 and a 1 year high of $22.24.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a return on equity of 23.65% and a net margin of 21.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.1426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.04%.

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.