Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Acquires 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. increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PBR. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 256,098,882 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,672,458,000 after buying an additional 18,862,848 shares in the last quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter valued at about $64,765,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,984,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 905,800 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 1st quarter valued at about $9,376,000.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PBR opened at $12.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 1-year low of $11.03 and a 1-year high of $15.34. The company has a market capitalization of $81.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $12.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.42.

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). Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 34.11%. The firm had revenue of $21.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.78 billion. Research analysts expect that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.0739 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 25th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras's payout ratio is currently 47.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PBR. Bank of America downgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $15.80 to $14.40 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.14.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Company 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.

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