Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on PARR. UBS Group increased their target price on Par Pacific from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Par Pacific from $48.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Par Pacific from $50.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Par Pacific from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $77.00 in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Par Pacific from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

Par Pacific Stock Performance

PARR stock opened at $54.58 on Monday. Par Pacific has a 1-year low of $21.57 and a 1-year high of $70.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.32.

Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. Par Pacific had a return on equity of 34.38% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.94) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Par Pacific will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Par Pacific news, CEO William Monteleone sold 108,948 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 457,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,714,448.02. This represents a 19.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PARR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,190,088 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Par Pacific by 7,787.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 563,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,816,000 after purchasing an additional 556,780 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Par Pacific during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,839,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 456,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Par Pacific by 810.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 359,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,645,000 after buying an additional 320,326 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.15% of the company’s stock.

Par Pacific Company Profile

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.