Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 1,509,038 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,274% compared to the typical daily volume of 63,554 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PBR. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,091 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 2.7% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 25,750 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Founders Capital Management grew its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 17.5% in the first quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 4,700 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grey Street Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Grey Street Capital LLC now owns 26,227 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PBR shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. 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 report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.76.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,884,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,586,408. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.87. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 1-year low of $10.01 and a 1-year high of $17.91. 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 (NYSE:PBR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.15. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 34.44%. The business had revenue of $27.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.45 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.2084 dividend. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is presently 12.83%.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Company Profile

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.