Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Trading Down 6.9% – Time to Sell?

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)’s stock price traded down 6.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $19.11 and last traded at $19.2860. 21,728,467 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 29,937,408 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PBR. UBS Group boosted their price target on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $14.40 to $14.60 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $20.30 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.20.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.74 and a 200 day moving average of $14.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Sunday, February 15th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $23.61 billion for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a return on equity of 24.26% and a net margin of 22.01%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be issued a $0.1191 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 24th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.51%.

Institutional Trading of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 19,365 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 4,043 shares during the period. Fearnley Asset Management AS purchased a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter valued at about $17,590,000. Larch Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,714,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,079 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 935,559 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $11,086,000 after acquiring an additional 267,859 shares during the last quarter.

About Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras is a Brazilian, state-controlled integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1953, Petrobras is principally engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and operates across the full value chain from upstream activities through refining, transportation and downstream marketing of petroleum products. The company is a major player in Brazil’s energy sector and is a listed public company with global capital market presence.

Petrobras’s core activities include deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration and production, where it has been a pioneer in developing pre-salt reserves off Brazil’s coast.