Earnest Partners LLC Grows Stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 3.0%, acquiring an additional 93,409 shares, bringing its total holdings to 3,242,860 shares worth approximately $46.5 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Petrobras, including GQG Partners, which now owns 256 million shares valued at around $3.67 billion after an 8.0% increase in the first quarter.
• Petrobras recently cut its dividend to $0.2471 per share, with a high yield of 1,750.0%, despite missing consensus earnings estimates with an EPS of $0.64 for the last quarter.

Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,242,860 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC owned 0.05% of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras worth $46,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PBR. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 256,098,882 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $3,672,458,000 after buying an additional 18,862,848 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 21,755,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $279,779,000 after buying an additional 3,072,312 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 11,036,110 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $158,258,000 after buying an additional 38,312 shares in the last quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $64,765,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 3,908,771 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $56,052,000 after buying an additional 905,800 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PBR shares. Wall Street Zen raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America lowered Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.30 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Two research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.14.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Up 0.4%

PBR traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.41. 19,647,320 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,619,596. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $12.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $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 has a 12-month low of $11.03 and a 12-month high of $15.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 25th will be paid a $0.0739 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 25th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.