Liberty Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 5.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,772 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Phillips 66 were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Phillips 66 by 12.6% in the first quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 2,369 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Phillips 66 in the first quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in Phillips 66 by 4.1% in the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 248,069 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,632,000 after purchasing an additional 9,769 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Phillips 66 during the first quarter worth approximately $730,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 25,567 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,157,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert W. Pease bought 439 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $113.85 per share, with a total value of $49,980.15. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,091 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,760.35. This trade represents a 12.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PSX. Wall Street Zen raised Phillips 66 from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Tudor Pickering downgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Phillips 66 from $136.00 to $133.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Phillips 66 from $144.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Phillips 66 from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Phillips 66 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.46.

Phillips 66 Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of PSX opened at $121.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $49.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.02. Phillips 66 has a 52-week low of $91.01 and a 52-week high of $150.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $109.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.65.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.90) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.97). The company had revenue of $31.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.93 billion. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 1.46%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Analysts predict that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. This is a positive change from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.34%.

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.