Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PSX. Mizuho reduced their price target on Phillips 66 from $167.00 to $162.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Phillips 66 from $149.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Phillips 66 from $152.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on Phillips 66 from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Phillips 66 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a buy rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $158.00.

Phillips 66 Stock Down 3.7 %

PSX stock opened at $151.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.78 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.37. Phillips 66 has a 1-year low of $89.74 and a 1-year high of $174.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.06.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $36.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.87 billion. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 22.10% and a net margin of 4.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Phillips 66 will post 13.77 EPS for the current year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Phillips 66 news, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 21,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.27, for a total value of $3,208,286.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,648,120.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Phillips 66 news, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 21,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.27, for a total value of $3,208,286.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,648,120.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Joseph Scott Pruitt sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total value of $1,132,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,242.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,056 shares of company stock valued at $5,272,681 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Phillips 66

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PSX. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,903,130 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,451,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,226 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 38.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,019,795 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,309,954,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,043 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 4.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,760,709 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $932,447,000 after purchasing an additional 309,239 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 2.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,768,960 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $813,291,000 after purchasing an additional 138,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 6.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,881,094 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $586,463,000 after purchasing an additional 283,010 shares in the last quarter. 76.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined petroleum products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and refined petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas.