Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PBR)

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 40,638 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 36% compared to the average daily volume of 29,888 call options.

Institutional Trading of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 74.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,438 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 45.7% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas boosted its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 241.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 4,240 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on PBR shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.90.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Trading Up 0.6%

PBR traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.88. 7,333,132 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,438,455. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.51. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 12-month low of $11.03 and a 12-month high of $14.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.28 and a 200 day moving average of $12.36.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.30%.

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.