Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Shares Up 5.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR) shares shot up 5.3% during trading on Wednesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $40.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Par Pacific traded as high as $36.68 and last traded at $37.01. 662,862 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 1,395,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.14.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PARR. Mizuho increased their price target on Par Pacific from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Par Pacific from $23.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Par Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Par Pacific in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Par Pacific in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Ivan Daniel Guerra sold 5,500 shares of Par Pacific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.11, for a total value of $193,105.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,491 shares in the company, valued at $614,109.01. The trade was a 23.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrill Pitkin sold 5,164 shares of Par Pacific stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total value of $144,437.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 41,223 shares in the company, valued at $1,153,007.31. The trade was a 11.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,954 shares of company stock worth $863,048. Corporate insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Par Pacific

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 89.9% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,438,677 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,168,000 after buying an additional 681,190 shares during the period. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Par Pacific in the second quarter worth $34,609,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 32.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,205,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,194,000 after buying an additional 296,536 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 6.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,157,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,500,000 after buying an additional 67,481 shares during the period. Finally, FJ Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Par Pacific in the second quarter worth $26,294,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.15% of the company’s stock.

Par Pacific Trading Up 5.3%

The firm has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.14 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.80. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. Par Pacific had a negative return on equity of 1.79% and a negative net margin of 0.25%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Par Pacific Company Profile

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc owns and operates energy and infrastructure businesses. The company operates through Refining, Retail, and Logistics segments. The Refining segment owns and operates refineries that produce gasoline, distillate, asphalt, and other products primarily for consumption in Kapolei, Hawaii, Newcastle, Wyoming, Tacoma, Washington, and Billings, Montana.