Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Buys 43,750 Shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 8.4%, acquiring an additional 43,750 shares, bringing their total to 564,661 shares valued at approximately $7.07 million.
• Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras reported $0.64 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing analysts' estimates, although revenue surpassed expectations at $21.04 billion.
• The company declared a special dividend of $0.0739 per share, with a payout date set for December 30th, impacting shareholders of record from August 25th.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 564,661 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 43,750 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras were worth $7,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the 1st quarter worth about $2,678,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter worth about $29,984,000. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 155,244 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 20,462 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. bought a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the 1st quarter valued at $474,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the first quarter valued at about $3,083,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PBR. Bank of America downgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $15.80 to $14.40 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $16.14.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

PBR traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $12.55. The stock had a trading volume of 7,223,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,917,695. The company's 50-day moving average price is $12.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.72. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a twelve month low of $11.03 and a twelve month high of $15.34.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $21.04 billion during 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, equities research analysts forecast that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 EPS 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 47.66%.

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.