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

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 3,462 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 121% compared to the average volume of 1,568 call options.

Insider Activity at PBF Energy

In related news, SVP Connor Thomas L. O sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.83, for a total value of $2,041,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 205,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,384,032.20. This trade represents a 19.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Paul T. Davis sold 50,000 shares of PBF Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $1,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 192,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,310,858. This represents a 20.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 509,624 shares of company stock valued at $18,260,965 over the last quarter. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of PBF Energy by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,772,258 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,516 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of PBF Energy by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,503,283 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,524,000 after buying an additional 418,223 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,390,455 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,544,000 after purchasing an additional 11,499 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of PBF Energy by 2,198.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,212,368 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $36,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159,628 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in PBF Energy by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,174,201 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $25,445,000 after acquiring an additional 75,546 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PBF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on PBF Energy from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on PBF Energy from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Mizuho upgraded shares of PBF Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of PBF Energy from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Cowen restated a “sell” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $29.38.

PBF Energy Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE PBF traded up $0.32 on Tuesday, reaching $26.44. 353,239 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,140,172. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.29. PBF Energy has a 12 month low of $13.61 and a 12 month high of $41.47. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.71 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.38.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.69) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.47 billion. PBF Energy had a negative net margin of 1.78% and a negative return on equity of 15.88%. PBF Energy’s revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.50) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PBF Energy will post -1.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. PBF Energy’s payout ratio is -23.66%.

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.