Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Buys 6,782 Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 1.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 368,541 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,782 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras were worth $5,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PBR. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Founders Capital Management raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,280 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Grey Street Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Grey Street Capital LLC now owns 26,227 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 5.7% in the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 22,867 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $14.09. 14,675,537 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,004,069. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 1-year low of $13.02 and a 1-year high of $17.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued 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). Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 22.46% and a return on equity of 31.07%. The business had revenue of $23.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $20.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. 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 research report on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Bank of America lowered 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 report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $21.20 to $17.70 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.33.

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.