Short Interest in PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) Decreases By 15.7%

PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 12,894,237 shares, a decline of 15.7% from the March 15th total of 15,290,981 shares. Currently, 11.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,278,106 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other PBF Energy news, SVP James E. Fedena sold 77,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.60, for a total transaction of $3,823,416.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 139,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,895,193.60. This trade represents a 35.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Nimbley sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 790,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,026,043.92. This represents a 5.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 11,100,825 shares of company stock worth $488,323,877 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PBF Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PBF. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PBF Energy by 127.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,327,255 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $171,595,000 after buying an additional 3,550,820 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PBF Energy by 147.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,772,258 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,639,000 after buying an additional 1,651,516 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of PBF Energy by 230.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,085,060 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $45,183,000 after buying an additional 1,454,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of PBF Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,243,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of PBF Energy by 2,198.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,212,368 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159,628 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

PBF Energy Trading Down 12.6%

NYSE PBF traded down $5.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,064,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,431,473. PBF Energy has a 52-week low of $14.54 and a 52-week high of $52.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 0.25.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.64. PBF Energy had a negative net margin of 0.54% and a negative return on equity of 8.86%. The firm had revenue of $7.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($2.82) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that PBF Energy will post -1.12 EPS for the current year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors 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 yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. PBF Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -74.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on PBF. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of PBF Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on PBF Energy from $29.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on PBF Energy from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded PBF Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research raised PBF Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.54.

PBF Energy Company Profile

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.