586,761 Shares in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras $PBR Bought by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS acquired a new position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 586,761 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,175,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,637,308 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $363,052,000 after buying an additional 10,425,563 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 18,975,177 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $224,856,000 after buying an additional 166,472 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its position in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 12,655,094 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $149,963,000 after buying an additional 1,562,473 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 5,335,330 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $63,224,000 after acquiring an additional 462,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 3,313,257 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $39,262,000 after acquiring an additional 18,100 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $18.70 to $24.80 in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.28.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PBR opened at $17.86 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.33. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $22.24. The company has a market cap of $115.13 billion, a PE ratio of 5.80, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $23.54 billion during the quarter. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras had a net margin of 21.67% and a return on equity of 23.65%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a $0.1426 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 3rd. Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras’s payout ratio is 11.04%.

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras Profile

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.