Freedom Capital Upgrades PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) to “Hold”

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) was upgraded by analysts at Freedom Capital to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PBF. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of PBF Energy from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of PBF Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research downgraded PBF Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PBF Energy from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PBF Energy presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $36.69.

PBF Energy Trading Up 9.1%

NYSE PBF opened at $52.89 on Tuesday. PBF Energy has a one year low of $21.24 and a one year high of $53.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 0.11.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 570,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.36, for a total transaction of $26,425,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 17,142,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $794,709,054.08. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,791,570 shares of company stock valued at $126,106,586. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PBF Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PBF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in PBF Energy by 127.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,327,255 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $171,595,000 after acquiring an additional 3,550,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in PBF Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,854,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,661,000 after acquiring an additional 60,294 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in PBF Energy by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,366,331 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $207,953,000 after acquiring an additional 454,731 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 54.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,222,433 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $153,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 147.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,772,258 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $83,639,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

PBF Energy News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting PBF Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PBF Energy is benefiting from rising refining margins after oil prices jumped on renewed Middle East tensions, while fresh U.S. gasoline and distillate inventory draws suggest product markets remain tight. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Sentiment was also helped by a better operating backdrop at the Martinez refinery, which PBF said was moving toward full planned rates, improving expectations for summer throughput and profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary highlighted strong margins, high earnings sensitivity to crack spreads, and the possibility of substantial free cash flow this year, which may be supporting the stock. Article Title

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.