Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $61.67, but opened at $64.76. Par Pacific shares last traded at $65.6890, with a volume of 171,720 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PARR. Piper Sandler set a $57.00 price target on Par Pacific in a research note on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $44.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of Par Pacific from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Par Pacific from $50.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Par Pacific presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.50.

Par Pacific Stock Up 4.3%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.04). Par Pacific had a return on equity of 30.19% and a net margin of 4.95%.The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.79) EPS. Par Pacific’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 0.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Par Pacific news, CEO William Monteleone sold 108,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total value of $5,889,728.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 457,167 shares in the company, valued at $24,714,448.02. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PARR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Par Pacific by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,044,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,088 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Par Pacific by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,774,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,363,000 after buying an additional 7,280 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Par Pacific by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,765,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,044,000 after buying an additional 9,470 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 42.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,522,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,923,000 after acquiring an additional 456,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Par Pacific during the second quarter valued at about $34,609,000. 92.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.