Payden & Rygel Investment Group Acquires New Position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Payden & Rygel Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 10,210 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $155,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth $206,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 65,093 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 21,352 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 31,750 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 5,750 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the fourth quarter worth about $1,375,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on PBR shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $21.20 to $17.70 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $16.80 to $17.90 in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.56.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of PBR stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $14.46. 13,431,179 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,753,475. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 1-year low of $13.18 and a 1-year high of $17.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $14.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.75.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 13th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $23.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.63 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a return on equity of 31.07% and a net margin of 22.46%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th will be paid a $0.0288 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is 26.45%.

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.