Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Rating Increased to Outperform at Mizuho

Key Points

• Mizuho upgraded Par Pacific from “neutral” to “outperform” and raised its price target to $79 from $58, implying roughly 39.7% upside from the previous close.
• Other analysts have also turned more bullish on PARR, with multiple firms lifting price targets and ratings; MarketBeat shows an overall Moderate Buy consensus and a $70 average target price.
• The stock was trading lower on the day despite the upgrade, and the company recently reported Q1 EPS of $0.78, below estimates, even as revenue came in slightly above expectations at $1.82 billion.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Mizuho from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $79.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $58.00. Mizuho's price target suggests a potential upside of 39.67% from the stock's previous close.

PARR has been the topic of several other research reports. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $50.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Par Pacific to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Par Pacific from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Par Pacific from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Par Pacific currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.00.

Par Pacific Trading Down 3.9%

NYSE:PARR opened at $56.56 on Wednesday. Par Pacific has a 12 month low of $20.74 and a 12 month high of $70.39. The firm has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company's 50 day moving average is $61.68 and its 200-day moving average is $48.38.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.22). Par Pacific had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 34.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.94) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Par Pacific will post 13.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Par Pacific news, CEO William Monteleone sold 108,948 shares of Par Pacific stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total transaction of $5,889,728.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 457,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,714,448.02. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 30.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,044,612 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,680,000 after buying an additional 1,190,088 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 7,787.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 563,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,816,000 after buying an additional 556,780 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Par Pacific in the first quarter valued at about $28,839,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 42.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,522,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,923,000 after buying an additional 456,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 810.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 359,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,645,000 after buying an additional 320,326 shares during the last quarter. 92.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Par Pacific

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc NYSE: PARR is a diversified downstream energy company engaged in the refining, marketing and logistics of petroleum products. Through its subsidiaries, Par Pacific operates the Par Hawaii Refinery on the island of Oʻahu, which processes crude oil into transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as asphalt, petroleum coke and sulfur. In the Rocky Mountain region, the company owns and operates the Salt Lake City Refinery in Utah and associated logistics infrastructure, including pipelines and storage terminals, to support both crude supply and product distribution.

In marketing its refined products, Par Pacific maintains a network of branded and unbranded wholesale accounts across Hawaii and the U.S.

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