Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 177,046 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 180% compared to the typical volume of 63,276 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 20.9% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 2,702,467 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $34,213,000 after purchasing an additional 467,737 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 70.4% during the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,808,705 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $238,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,772,595 shares in the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG purchased a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the third quarter worth about $1,342,000. North of South Capital LLP raised its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 150.9% during the third quarter. North of South Capital LLP now owns 285,373 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $3,613,000 after purchasing an additional 171,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 7.4% during the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,994,268 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $25,247,000 after purchasing an additional 137,370 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $13.10 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $14.40 to $14.60 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.35.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PBR opened at $21.27 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.85. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a one year low of $11.03 and a one year high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.37.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last announced its earnings results on Sunday, February 15th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 24.26%. The business had revenue of $23.61 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts predict that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be issued a $0.1191 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 24th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.57%.

About Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras is a Brazilian, state-controlled integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1953, Petrobras is principally engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, and operates across the full value chain from upstream activities through refining, transportation and downstream marketing of petroleum products. The company is a major player in Brazil’s energy sector and is a listed public company with global capital market presence.

Petrobras’s core activities include deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration and production, where it has been a pioneer in developing pre-salt reserves off Brazil’s coast.