Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on PARR. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Par Pacific from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Par Pacific from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Par Pacific in a report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho upped their target price on Par Pacific from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised Par Pacific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Par Pacific presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Par Pacific Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of PARR stock opened at $42.88 on Friday. Par Pacific has a 1 year low of $11.86 and a 1 year high of $48.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Insider Activity at Par Pacific

In other news, CEO William Monteleone sold 99,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.15, for a total transaction of $4,284,104.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 423,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,253,399.30. This trade represents a 19.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Par Pacific

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,044,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,088 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,774,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,363,000 after buying an additional 7,280 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,756,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,203,000 after acquiring an additional 317,484 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,522,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,923,000 after acquiring an additional 456,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Par Pacific during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,609,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.15% of the company’s stock.

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.