Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Delek US (NYSE:DK) Stock

Delek US (NYSE:DK) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the oil and gas company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 0.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on DK. UBS Group raised their price target on Delek US from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Delek US from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on Delek US from $33.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Delek US in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Delek US from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delek US presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.15.

Delek US Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of DK stock opened at $39.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.89, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.82. Delek US has a 52-week low of $12.66 and a 52-week high of $48.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of -113.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.97 and its 200 day moving average is $36.44.

Delek US (NYSE:DK) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The oil and gas company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.63. Delek US had a negative return on equity of 13.55% and a negative net margin of 0.21%.The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($2.54) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Delek US will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Reuven Spiegel sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.84, for a total transaction of $856,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 48,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,079,025.20. This trade represents a 29.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Shlomo Zohar sold 22,029 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.83, for a total value of $987,560.07. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,989 shares in the company, valued at $851,276.87. This trade represents a 53.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 172,095 shares of company stock valued at $7,257,409. Company insiders own 3.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Delek US by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,330,858 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $187,773,000 after buying an additional 38,577 shares during the last quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Delek US by 1.8% during the second quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,743,890 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $79,296,000 after buying an additional 67,490 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Delek US by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,639,447 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $78,286,000 after buying an additional 87,846 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Delek US by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,033,037 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $60,300,000 after buying an additional 403,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Delek US by 29.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,873,578 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $60,460,000 after buying an additional 425,896 shares during the last quarter. 97.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Delek US Company Profile

Delek US Holdings, Inc (NYSE: DK) is an independent downstream energy company engaged in the refining, logistics, and marketing of petroleum products. Headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, the company operates a network of inland refineries, storage terminals and pipelines, and convenience store locations. Delek US focuses on converting crude oil into a variety of finished products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and renewable fuels, serving wholesale and retail customers across the United States.

In its refining segment, Delek US owns and operates four inland refineries located in Texas and Arkansas.