Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PBR)

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 35,300 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 33% compared to the typical volume of 26,603 call options.

Institutional Trading of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PBR. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 13.1% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,819,647 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $227,961,000 after buying an additional 1,835,297 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 23.0% in the second quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 10,099,766 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $144,124,000 after acquiring an additional 1,889,313 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $141,372,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,174,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,745,895 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $54,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,700 shares in the last quarter.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Up 5.3 %

PBR stock opened at $14.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $97.18 billion, a PE ratio of 5.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 52 week low of $12.90 and a 52 week high of $17.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.63.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.227 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 16.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This is an increase from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s previous Variable dividend of $0.17. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is 38.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PBR. UBS Group reduced their price target on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $19.40 to $18.10 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $16.50 to $19.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $15.40 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. HSBC cut shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.24.

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 three segments: Exploration and Production; Refining, Transportation and Marketing; and Gas and Power. The Exploration and Production segment explores, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas primarily for supplies to the domestic refineries.