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

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 1,509,038 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,274% compared to the average volume of 63,554 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Finally, Bank of America downgraded 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.76.

Institutional Trading of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 9.6% in the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 790,133 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $11,844,000 after acquiring an additional 69,336 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,485 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $397,000 after buying an additional 6,012 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 2,195,686 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $32,913,000 after buying an additional 205,951 shares in the last quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC boosted its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 37,734 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 14,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 59.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 516,399 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $7,741,000 after acquiring an additional 192,327 shares in the last quarter.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Up 1.4 %

PBR stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.05. 15,884,881 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,586,408. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 52-week low of $10.01 and a 52-week high of $17.91.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $27.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.45 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 34.44%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.2084 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.89%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is 12.83%.

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.