Traders Buy High Volume of PBF Energy Call Options (NYSE:PBF)

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders bought 7,100 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 69% compared to the average daily volume of 4,213 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PBF Energy news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 220,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.96, for a total transaction of $14,071,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 15,492,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $990,876,506.88. The trade was a 1.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,396,570 shares of company stock worth $163,978,356. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

PBF Energy Stock Performance

NYSE PBF traded up $10.62 on Thursday, hitting $73.97. 3,708,211 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,354,649. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. PBF Energy has a 1-year low of $21.24 and a 1-year high of $74.05.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $6.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by $2.07. PBF Energy had a net margin of 1.46% and a negative return on equity of 4.12%. The firm had revenue of $11.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.03) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 56.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that PBF Energy will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PBF shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Zacks Research upgraded PBF Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on PBF Energy from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on PBF Energy from $43.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded PBF Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.62.

PBF Energy Company Profile

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.