Investors Buy Large 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 Monday. Stock investors bought 46,605 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 32% compared to the average volume of 35,235 call options.

Institutional Trading of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PBR. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,211,745 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $255,881,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,536 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 70.4% in the 3rd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,808,705 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $238,118,000 after purchasing an additional 7,772,595 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras during the 3rd quarter worth $140,433,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 52.0% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 4,872,441 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 3,313,257 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $39,262,000 after purchasing an additional 18,100 shares in the last quarter.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

NYSE:PBR opened at $14.34 on Tuesday. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 52 week low of $11.03 and a 52 week high of $14.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $92.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.51.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.03. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a return on equity of 23.32% and a net margin of 16.15%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.0658 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s payout ratio is currently 21.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PBR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $14.40 to $14.60 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.97.

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.