Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Shares Sold by WealthTrust Axiom LLC

WealthTrust Axiom LLC reduced its position in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,445 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings in Phillips 66 were worth $991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 4.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 2.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 6.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 12.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,570,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $549,156,000 after purchasing an additional 502,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 21.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,946,809 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $233,909,000 after purchasing an additional 350,211 shares during the last quarter. 76.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Phillips 66 from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on Phillips 66 from $155.00 to $147.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Phillips 66 from $152.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup started coverage on Phillips 66 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Phillips 66 from $148.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Phillips 66 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $157.43.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

Shares of PSX traded down $7.83 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $143.71. 2,194,211 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,963,807. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.37. Phillips 66 has a fifty-two week low of $89.74 and a fifty-two week high of $174.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.52.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.15). Phillips 66 had a net margin of 3.84% and a return on equity of 19.07%. The company had revenue of $36.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Phillips 66 will post 13.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Joseph Scott Pruitt sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total value of $1,132,272.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,242.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert W. Pease bought 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $146.58 per share, for a total transaction of $99,967.56. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $278,502. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Joseph Scott Pruitt sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 6,583 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,242.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,056 shares of company stock valued at $5,272,681. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.