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

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 1,509,038 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,274% compared to the average volume of 63,554 call options.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of PBR opened at $17.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.94 and its 200 day moving average is $15.90. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a fifty-two week low of $10.01 and a fifty-two week high of $17.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $27.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.45 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 210.6% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 3,998 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,711 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 2.4% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 26,509 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the first quarter worth $358,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 11.2% during the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 26,496 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 2,676 shares during the period. Finally, Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the first quarter worth $183,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.