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

Key Points

• Traders bought 8,633 call options on PBF, a 63% increase versus the average daily call volume, indicating unusually heavy bullish options activity.
• Insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 1,100,000 shares at an average $46.21 for roughly $50.83M, lowering its stake to 22,996,898 shares; insiders have sold 11,051,825 shares in the past 90 days and own 5.50% of the company.
• Analysts are mixed with an average price target of $34.54 and a "Reduce" consensus; PBF has a $4.86B market cap, recently beat EPS estimates, and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.275 (~2.6% yield).

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 8,633 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 63% compared to the average daily volume of 5,296 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PBF Energy news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 1,100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.21, for a total transaction of $50,831,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 22,996,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,062,686,656.58. The trade was a 4.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,051,825 shares of company stock valued at $486,676,087. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PBF Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in PBF Energy by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,575 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in PBF Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,287 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in PBF Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,666 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $774,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Next Level Private LLC lifted its position in PBF Energy by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 66,660 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $1,808,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in PBF Energy by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,885 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of PBF Energy in a report on Friday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $49.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of PBF Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on PBF Energy from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered PBF Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on PBF Energy from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PBF Energy currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $34.54.

PBF Energy Price Performance

Shares of PBF traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $41.61. 576,093 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,657,710. The stock has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of -28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $41.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.62. PBF Energy has a 12 month low of $16.20 and a 12 month high of $52.18.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $7.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. PBF Energy had a negative return on equity of 8.86% and a negative net margin of 0.54%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.82) EPS. Equities analysts expect that PBF Energy will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 25th. PBF Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -74.83%.

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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