Brokerages Set Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Target Price at $16.78

Key Points

• Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from nine brokerages, with an average one-year price objective of $16.7833.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.64 per share, which was below the consensus estimate of $0.70, despite having a revenue of $21.04 billion.
• Institutional trading has seen significant activity, with several investors, including TrueMark Investments LLC and New York State Common Retirement Fund, increasing their stakes in Petrobras during the first quarter.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $16.14.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PBR shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $15.30 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $15.80 to $14.40 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras stock traded up $0.09 on Monday, hitting $12.45. 12,311,236 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,048,281. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.20 billion, a PE ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.85. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 1 year low of $11.03 and a 1 year high of $15.50. 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 (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $21.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.78 billion. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 34.11%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Announces Dividend

The company 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 presently 47.66%.

Institutional Trading of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 31,331 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 11,219 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda boosted its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 6,663 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 156,663 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $93,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $527,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 150,194 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $2,077,000 after acquiring an additional 4,355 shares during the last quarter.

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.