Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 75,806 Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 300,680 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after selling 75,806 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras were worth $3,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PBR. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 17,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 17,070 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 23,536 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,194 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,486 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on PBR. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HSBC raised Petróleo 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 report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.81.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Stock Performance

PBR stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.62. 18,288,237 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,384,890. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.88 billion, a PE ratio of 4.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.94. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras has a 52 week low of $11.03 and a 52 week high of $17.41.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.2403 dividend. This represents a yield of 19%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.69%.

About Petróleo 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.