Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in PBF Energy Inc. $PBF

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 186,598 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,361 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of PBF Energy worth $8,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of PBF Energy by 127.9% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,550,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of PBF Energy by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,854,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $131,661,000 after buying an additional 60,294 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of PBF Energy by 147.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,772,258 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $83,639,000 after buying an additional 1,651,516 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in PBF Energy by 20.1% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,503,283 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,524,000 after buying an additional 418,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in PBF Energy by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,400,702 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $65,108,000 after buying an additional 331,404 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Control Empresarial De Capital sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.52, for a total value of $5,452,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 15,712,128 shares in the company, valued at $856,625,218.56. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,541,570 shares of company stock worth $165,787,386. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on PBF. Wall Street Zen raised PBF Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Evercore began coverage on PBF Energy in a research report on Friday, July 17th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on PBF Energy from $43.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Freedom Capital raised shares of PBF Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of PBF Energy from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.62.

PBF Energy Trading Up 0.2%

PBF opened at $61.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.10 and a beta of 0.11. PBF Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.24 and a 12 month high of $68.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.67 and a 200 day moving average of $41.72.

PBF Energy (NYSE:PBF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.32 billion. PBF Energy had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 1.46%.The company’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($3.53) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PBF Energy Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

PBF Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. PBF Energy’s payout ratio is currently 29.65%.

PBF Energy News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting PBF Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: PBF was added to multiple Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) lists on July 24, including momentum, value, income, and general strong-buy screens, which can boost trader interest and signal improving analyst sentiment. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several Zacks pieces highlighted PBF as a top-ranked growth, value, income, and momentum stock, reinforcing the idea that the name is screening well across multiple investment styles. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: PBF was featured in a “Best Momentum Stocks” article and noted as being up strongly over the past week, suggesting short-term buying momentum remains intact. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: One article compared PBF’s year-to-date performance with peers like Phillips 66, which is mainly a relative-performance check and not a direct catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Another note said PBF does not have the ideal setup for a likely earnings beat ahead of next week’s report, so investors may remain cautious until the company releases results. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Seeking Alpha published an earnings preview titled “Don’t Get Trapped At The Top”, which suggests some skepticism about upside after the recent run-up. Article Title

PBF Energy 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.