Capital International Investors Raises Stock Position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,637,308 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,425,563 shares during the period. Capital International Investors owned approximately 0.48% of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras worth $363,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $1,019,000. Fore Capital LLC purchased a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $948,000. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 44,031 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the period. State of Wyoming raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 59,672 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 67,577 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 18,770 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $18.70 to $24.80 in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.28.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price Performance

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras stock opened at $17.76 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.49. The company has a market capitalization of $114.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 1 year low of $11.03 and a 1 year high of $22.24. 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 (NYSE:PBR) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 21.67% and a return on equity of 23.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

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

About Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

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.