Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $279.78 Million Stock Holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Free Report) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,755,839 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock after buying an additional 3,072,312 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.34% of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras worth $279,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 237,236,034 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,050,855,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016,560 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 56.1% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,508,806 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock valued at $19,403,000 after buying an additional 542,118 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 114.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 579,270 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $7,449,000 after buying an additional 309,112 shares during the period. Truffle Hound Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $2,572,000. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 192.3% during the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 301,400 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $3,891,000 after buying an additional 198,303 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PBR. Jefferies Financial Group raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.30 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.47.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Price Performance

Shares of PBR stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $12.06. 21,163,151 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,514,600. The firm has a market cap of $77.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $12.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.31. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras has a twelve month low of $11.03 and a twelve month high of $15.73.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.2403 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a yield of 19%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.36%.

Petróleo 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.