Morningstar Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 161,919 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after selling 27,790 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras were worth $2,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 4th quarter valued at $206,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 127.1% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 137,141 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,987,000 after buying an additional 76,752 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 48.8% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 65,093 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 21,352 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 22.1% in the first 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 worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 5,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 19,980 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares during the period.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Performance

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras stock opened at $14.45 on Friday. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a fifty-two week low of $12.90 and a fifty-two week high of $17.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a return on equity of 28.42% and a net margin of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $23.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.22 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a yield of 15.4%. This is a positive change from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s previous Variable dividend of $0.03. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PBR shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $16.80 to $17.90 in a report on Thursday, June 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $19.40 to $18.10 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $19.30 to $16.70 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.07.

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.