Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $218.72 and last traded at $218.5290, with a volume of 156194 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $215.52.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on PSX. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Phillips 66 from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Phillips 66 from $183.00 to $216.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Phillips 66 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Phillips 66 from $201.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Phillips 66 from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.56.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.74. The firm has a market cap of $88.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.16 and a beta of 0.68.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $9.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.50 by $1.91. The business had revenue of $52.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.60 billion. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 4.54%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Phillips 66 will post 23.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Phillips 66’s payout ratio is currently 28.95%.

Phillips 66 declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 11.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Phillips 66

In other news, EVP Vanessa Allen Sutherland sold 3,523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.05, for a total value of $743,529.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 27,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,811,683.85. The trade was a 11.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Kevin J. Mitchell sold 11,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.03, for a total transaction of $2,094,320.63. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 97,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,504,361.28. This represents a 10.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 15,107 shares of company stock valued at $2,956,648 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Phillips 66 by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,930,038 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,701,052,000 after purchasing an additional 205,480 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,766,779,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Phillips 66 by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,589,550 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,043,996,000 after buying an additional 175,616 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Phillips 66 by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,413,824 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,338,596,000 after acquiring an additional 45,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Phillips 66 in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,093,206,000. Institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is an independent energy manufacturing and logistics company engaged primarily in refining, midstream transportation, marketing and chemicals. The company processes crude oil into transportation fuels, lubricants and other petroleum products, operates pipeline and storage infrastructure, and participates in petrochemical production through strategic investments. Phillips 66 serves commercial, industrial and retail customers and positions its operations across the value chain of the downstream energy sector.

The company’s principal activities include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and feedstocks for petrochemical production; operating midstream assets such as pipelines, terminals and fractionators that move and store crude oil and natural gas liquids; and marketing and distributing fuels and lubricants through wholesale and retail channels.