Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.24.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PBR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $16.50 to $19.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. HSBC cut Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of PBR traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.81. The company had a trading volume of 16,075,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,690,063. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $14.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.94. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras has a 1 year low of $12.90 and a 1 year high of $17.91.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.227 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a dividend yield of 16.3%. This is a positive change from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras's previous Variable dividend of $0.17. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras's payout ratio is presently 33.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras during the second quarter worth $73,174,000. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 23.0% during 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 13.1% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,819,647 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $227,961,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835,297 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 38.4% during the second 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. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras by 152.7% during the second quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 890,417 shares of the oil and gas exploration company's stock worth $12,902,000 after purchasing an additional 538,002 shares in the last quarter.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras Company Profile

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.