Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $61.67, but opened at $64.76. Par Pacific shares last traded at $65.6890, with a volume of 171,720 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PARR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Par Pacific from $44.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Par Pacific from $50.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler set a $57.00 price target on Par Pacific in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Par Pacific from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Par Pacific presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.50.

Par Pacific Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.25 and a 200-day moving average of $42.08.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. Par Pacific had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 30.19%. Par Pacific’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.79) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO William Monteleone sold 108,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.06, for a total transaction of $5,889,728.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 457,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,714,448.02. This trade represents a 19.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PARR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,044,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,088 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised 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 valued at $62,363,000 after buying an additional 7,280 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,765,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,044,000 after buying an additional 9,470 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Par Pacific by 42.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,522,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,923,000 after buying an additional 456,473 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Par Pacific during the second quarter worth approximately $34,609,000. 92.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.