PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $35.60, but opened at $38.00. PBF Energy shares last traded at $37.1170, with a volume of 565,338 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PBF. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho raised shares of PBF Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of PBF Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of PBF Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of PBF Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PBF Energy presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $30.21.

PBF Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.50.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.64. PBF Energy had a negative return on equity of 8.86% and a negative net margin of 0.54%.The company had revenue of $7.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.82) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that PBF Energy Inc. will post -1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

PBF Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. PBF Energy’s payout ratio is currently -74.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.91, for a total value of $8,727,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,591,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $963,208,722.18. This trade represents a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 2,635,879 shares of company stock worth $91,446,680 over the last 90 days. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PBF Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of PBF Energy by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 19,473 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,635 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in PBF Energy by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,309 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in PBF Energy by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 119,402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,238,000 after purchasing an additional 8,154 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its stake in PBF Energy by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,729,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $46,899,000 after purchasing an additional 574,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in PBF Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $821,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

About PBF Energy

PBF Energy, Inc is an independent petroleum refiner organized in 2008 and headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2012 under the ticker symbol PBF. Since its formation, PBF Energy has grown through acquisitions and operational optimization, positioning itself as a leading supplier of refined petroleum products in the United States.

The company owns and operates five refineries located along the U.S. Gulf Coast, East Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, with a combined crude oil processing capacity of approximately 900,000 barrels per day.