PBF Energy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PBF)

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 9,006 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 76% compared to the average daily volume of 5,119 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PBF Energy news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 570,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.36, for a total transaction of $26,425,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,142,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $794,709,054.08. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,591,570 shares of company stock worth $116,278,586 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PBF Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PBF. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PBF Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in PBF Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in PBF Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in PBF Energy by 65.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,466 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in PBF Energy during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PBF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a report on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on PBF Energy in a report on Friday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $49.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded PBF Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of PBF Energy from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of PBF Energy from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.69.

PBF Energy Stock Up 7.9%

Shares of PBF stock traded up $3.84 on Wednesday, hitting $52.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,503,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,373,271. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 0.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.05 and its 200-day moving average is $38.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.31. PBF Energy has a 52-week low of $21.24 and a 52-week high of $52.57.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.32 billion. PBF Energy had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 1.46%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($3.53) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that PBF Energy will post 8.55 earnings per share for the current year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. PBF Energy’s payout ratio is 29.65%.

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.