Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Trading Up 2.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR) traded up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $35.77 and last traded at $35.9650. 213,106 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,364,815 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PARR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised Par Pacific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Par Pacific from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Par Pacific from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Par Pacific from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Par Pacific from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.14.

Par Pacific Trading Up 2.6%

The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 7.56 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $5.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $3.97. Par Pacific had a return on equity of 23.69% and a net margin of 3.15%.The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.10) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 0.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William Monteleone sold 99,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.15, for a total value of $4,284,104.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 423,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,253,399.30. This trade represents a 19.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard Creamer sold 15,848 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.22, for a total transaction of $653,254.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 54,654 shares in the company, valued at $2,252,837.88. This represents a 22.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PARR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Par Pacific by 30.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,044,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,680,000 after buying an additional 1,190,088 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,767,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,601,000 after acquiring an additional 109,705 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Par Pacific by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,756,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,203,000 after acquiring an additional 317,484 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Par Pacific by 42.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,522,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,923,000 after acquiring an additional 456,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Par Pacific in the second quarter worth about $34,609,000. Institutional investors own 92.15% of the company’s stock.

Par Pacific Company Profile

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc (NYSE: PARR) is a diversified downstream energy company engaged in the refining, marketing and logistics of petroleum products. Through its subsidiaries, Par Pacific operates the Par Hawaii Refinery on the island of Oʻahu, which processes crude oil into transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as asphalt, petroleum coke and sulfur. In the Rocky Mountain region, the company owns and operates the Salt Lake City Refinery in Utah and associated logistics infrastructure, including pipelines and storage terminals, to support both crude supply and product distribution.

In marketing its refined products, Par Pacific maintains a network of branded and unbranded wholesale accounts across Hawaii and the U.S.