PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $32.90, but opened at $31.06. PBF Energy shares last traded at $32.4930, with a volume of 720,622 shares trading hands.

Specifically, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.31, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,773,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $994,291,720.38. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PBF. Wall Street Zen upgraded PBF Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of PBF Energy from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Piper Sandler set a $41.00 price target on shares of PBF Energy in a research note on Monday. Mizuho upgraded shares of PBF Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of PBF Energy from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $30.14.

PBF Energy Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of -6.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

PBF Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. PBF Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -23.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PBF. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,651,516 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in PBF Energy by 230.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,085,060 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $45,183,000 after buying an additional 1,454,500 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in PBF Energy by 2,198.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,212,368 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,577,000 after buying an additional 1,159,628 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PBF Energy in the second quarter worth about $24,599,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of PBF Energy by 276.2% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,028,799 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $22,294,000 after acquiring an additional 755,310 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.