Hennessy Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 31.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 398,900 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after purchasing an additional 95,100 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras were worth $5,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ethos Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 6,663 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 156,663 shares during the period. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Finally, City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the first quarter worth $97,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PBR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America downgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. HSBC upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.30 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $17.47.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:PBR traded down $0.07 on Wednesday, reaching $13.01. 18,320,121 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,885,099. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $83.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.84. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 12 month low of $11.03 and a 12 month high of $15.73. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $11.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.97.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a -- dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $0.2806 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This is a boost from Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras's previous -- dividend of $0.24. This represents a yield of 17.6%. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras's dividend payout ratio is 73.88%.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Profile

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.