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

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 7,100 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 69% compared to the average daily volume of 4,213 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of PBF Energy from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on PBF Energy from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on PBF Energy from $39.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised PBF Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on PBF Energy from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. One equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, PBF Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at PBF Energy

In other PBF Energy news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 220,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 15,492,128 shares in the company, valued at $990,876,506.88. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 3,396,570 shares of company stock valued at $163,978,356 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of PBF Energy

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

PBF Energy Stock Up 16.8%

Shares of PBF Energy stock traded up $10.62 on Thursday, reaching $73.97. The stock had a trading volume of 3,708,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,354,649. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.31 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 0.11.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $6.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.03) EPS. PBF Energy’s revenue was up 56.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that PBF Energy will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

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.