Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Increases Position in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) by 22.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 520,911 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock after buying an additional 94,165 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras were worth $7,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 17,300 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 23,536 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,194 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 43,486 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 33,916 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on PBR shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.30 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America lowered Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.47.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:PBR opened at $12.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras has a 52-week low of $11.03 and a 52-week high of $15.73. The stock has a market cap of $79.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.85, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.01.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.2806 dividend. This is an increase from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s previous — dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 17.6%. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.57%.

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 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.