Brokerages Set Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Target Price at $16.76

Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.76.

A number of brokerages have commented on PBR. Bank of America downgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $16.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. HSBC upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $18.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Price Performance

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.05. The stock had a trading volume of 20,004,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,103,116. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras has a 12 month low of $10.01 and a 12 month high of $17.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.90.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.15. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras had a return on equity of 34.44% and a net margin of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $27.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.45 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras will post 3.51 EPS for the current year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.2084 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBR. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras in the fourth quarter valued at $218,758,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras in the third quarter valued at $62,049,000. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras in the first quarter valued at $56,337,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 117.2% in the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 5,666,762 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $84,945,000 after buying an additional 3,057,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 3,457.9% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 2,919,298 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $44,403,000 after buying an additional 2,837,247 shares in the last quarter.

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 Exploration and Production; Refining, Transportation and Marketing; and Gas and Power. It also engages in prospecting, drilling, refining, processing, trading, and transporting crude oil from producing onshore and offshore oil fields, and shale or other rocks, as well as oil products, natural gas, and other liquid hydrocarbons.