Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 1,262,651 PBF Energy Inc. $PBF

Key Points

• Norges Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in PBF Energy, buying 1.26 million shares valued at about $34.2 million. The position represented 1.09% of the company at quarter-end.
• PBF Energy’s latest earnings showed mixed results: it posted an adjusted loss of $0.88 per share, wider than expected, but revenue of $7.9 billion came in above estimates and rose 11.9% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with the stock carrying a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $36.15, even as the shares traded around $42.36 and the company continued paying a 2.6% dividend yield.

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,262,651 shares of the oil and gas company's stock, valued at approximately $34,243,000. Norges Bank owned 1.09% of PBF Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PBF. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 197.7% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 887 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PBF Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 235.7% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,299 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of PBF Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of PBF Energy by 3,354.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,211 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PBF shares. Wall Street Zen cut PBF Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on PBF Energy in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of PBF Energy in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Tudor Pickering upgraded PBF Energy from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on PBF Energy from $36.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PBF Energy currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $36.15.

PBF Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PBF opened at $42.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business's 50 day moving average price is $42.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.16 and a beta of 0.12. PBF Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.55 and a 1 year high of $52.18.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.79) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $7.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.32 billion. PBF Energy had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 1.46%.The business's revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($3.53) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PBF Energy Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PBF Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. PBF Energy's payout ratio is currently 29.65%.

Insider Transactions at PBF Energy

In other news, Director Thomas J. Nimbley sold 50,000 shares of PBF Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.62, for a total value of $2,531,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 790,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,026,043.92. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP James E. Fedena sold 77,085 shares of PBF Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.60, for a total value of $3,823,416.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 139,016 shares in the company, valued at $6,895,193.60. This represents a 35.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 8,320,425 shares of company stock valued at $388,887,209 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

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.

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