Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys Shares of 26,000 Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 26,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PBR. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the third quarter worth approximately $85,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the third quarter worth approximately $106,000. Payden & Rygel Investment Group purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the third quarter worth approximately $153,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras in the third quarter worth approximately $162,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from $17.20 to $17.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. HSBC upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $18.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.76.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Price Performance

Shares of PBR opened at $17.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.96. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 1 year low of $10.64 and a 1 year high of $17.91.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $27.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.45 billion. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 34.44%. On average, analysts forecast that Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.3406 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 16.25%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s payout ratio is currently 21.73%.

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 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.