PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) Stock Sees Heavy Put Option Buying

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 6,822 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 36% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,003 put options.

Insider Activity at PBF Energy

In other PBF Energy news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 490,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $34,917,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 14,992,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,068,339,041.28. This represents a 3.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Nimbley sold 468,139 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.54, for a total value of $32,554,386.06. Following the sale, the director directly owned 793,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,196,470.98. This represents a 37.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,146,374 shares of company stock worth $304,686,537. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of PBF Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of PBF Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in PBF Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in PBF Energy by 68.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,451 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in PBF Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $143,000. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in PBF Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $149,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

PBF Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE PBF traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $83.19. 491,000 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,340,736. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. PBF Energy has a 52 week low of $25.62 and a 52 week high of $92.46. The stock has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a PE ratio of 7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.06 and a beta of 0.18.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $6.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.15 by $2.07. The business had revenue of $11.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.61 billion. PBF Energy had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 3.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.03) EPS. Analysts forecast that PBF Energy will post 24.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.2750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. PBF Energy’s payout ratio is currently 9.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PBF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on PBF Energy from $38.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised PBF Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Freedom Capital downgraded PBF Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore began coverage on PBF Energy in a report on Friday, July 17th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.55.

PBF Energy Company Profile

PBF Energy Inc (NYSE:PBF) is an independent petroleum refiner and supplier of transportation fuels, heating oil, petrochemical feedstocks, lubricants, asphalt and other refined petroleum products. The company purchases crude oil and other feedstocks, processes them at its refineries, and sells the resulting products to branded and unbranded fuel retailers, distributors, wholesalers and commercial customers.

PBF operates refineries in several major U.S. refining regions, including the East Coast, Midwest, Gulf Coast and West Coast.