Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Decreases Stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

Key Points

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. reduced its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 95.3%, owning only 14,126 shares after selling 287,274 shares during the first quarter, with holdings worth approximately $202,000.
• Recent analyst activity includes upgrades from multiple firms, with Wall Street Zen and Jefferies Financial Group raising their ratings to "buy", while UBS Group cut its price target from $15.80 to $14.40.
• Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras recently announced a dividend of $0.2471 per share, which reflects a dividend yield of 1,750% and a payout ratio of 46.26%.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. cut its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 95.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,126 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 287,274 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBR. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the first quarter worth approximately $3,083,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 23,812 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter worth $1,415,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 150.6% during the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 40,514 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 24,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ted Buchan & Co increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 2.6% in the first quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 221,923 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $3,182,000 after buying an additional 5,524 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $15.80 to $14.40 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Bank of America cut shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.30 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $16.14.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBR traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $12.41. 19,647,320 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,619,596. The stock has a market cap of $79.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.85. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 1 year low of $11.03 and a 1 year high of $15.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $21.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.78 billion. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a return on equity of 34.11% and a net margin of 15.99%. On average, research analysts forecast that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th will be issued a $0.0739 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 25th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras's payout ratio is currently 48.13%.

About Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro SA - Petrobras explores, produces, and sells oil and gas in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Exploration and Production; Refining, Transportation and Marketing; and Gas and Power. The Exploration and Production segment explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily for supplies to the domestic refineries.