Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) Upgraded to “Overweight” by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $19.00 target price on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $16.50.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on PBR. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $19.30 to $16.70 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $19.40 to $18.10 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report 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 report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $16.80 to $17.90 in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $18.20.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Stock Performance

NYSE PBR opened at $14.85 on Wednesday. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 12 month low of $12.90 and a 12 month high of $17.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.67 and a 200-day moving average of $15.09.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. The firm had revenue of $23.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.22 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 28.42%. On average, analysts anticipate that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This is a positive change from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s previous Variable dividend of $0.03. This represents a yield of 15.4%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is 25.00%.

Institutional Trading of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PBR. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its stake 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 valued at $144,124,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889,313 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 27.7% during the first quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 6,278,919 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $95,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,108 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras during the second quarter worth about $73,174,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 38.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,039,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the first quarter valued at about $56,337,000.

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.