Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Shares Up 6.8% – Should You Buy?

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR)’s share price traded up 6.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $58.30 and last traded at $58.3340. 206,289 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,300,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PARR shares. Evercore upgraded Par Pacific to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Par Pacific from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Par Pacific from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Par Pacific from $48.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Par Pacific to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Par Pacific Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.44 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. Par Pacific had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 34.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.94) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Par Pacific

In related news, CEO William Monteleone sold 108,948 shares of Par Pacific stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total transaction of $5,889,728.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 457,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,714,448.02. The trade was a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PARR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 23.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 565,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,040,000 after purchasing an additional 106,131 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Par Pacific by 38.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 354,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,554,000 after acquiring an additional 98,524 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new stake in Par Pacific during the third quarter worth about $1,330,000. LMG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Par Pacific during the fourth quarter worth about $760,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Par Pacific by 105.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 65,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after buying an additional 33,537 shares during the period. 92.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Par Pacific

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.