Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Stock Rating Raised to “Hold” at Freedom Broker

Freedom Broker upgraded shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have $258.00 price target on the oil and gas company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $173.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Phillips 66 from $264.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $217.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Phillips 66 from $196.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.47.

Phillips 66 Trading Up 0.1%

PSX stock opened at $283.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Phillips 66 has a 1-year low of $127.16 and a 1-year high of $299.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.51. The company has a market capitalization of $110.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a PEG ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 0.69.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported $14.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.73 by $2.35. Phillips 66 had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 33.12%. The firm had revenue of $50.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Phillips 66 will post 33.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, July 31st that allows the company to repurchase $10 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the oil and gas company to purchase up to 11.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a $1.33 dividend. This is a boost from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 17th. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Phillips 66 news, EVP Richard Harbison sold 52,100 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.76, for a total value of $11,657,896.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,747,673.44. This trade represents a 57.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brian Mandell sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $6,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 61,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,242,925. This trade represents a 32.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 108,800 shares of company stock valued at $25,016,566 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,766,779,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Phillips 66 during the second quarter worth $1,093,206,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Phillips 66 during the second quarter worth $469,970,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Phillips 66 during the second quarter worth $303,648,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Phillips 66 during the second quarter valued at $271,128,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is an energy manufacturing and logistics company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was established in 2012 following the separation of ConocoPhillips’ downstream and midstream businesses.

Phillips 66 operates across midstream, chemicals, refining and marketing. Its midstream activities include gathering, processing, transporting and storing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Through its refining operations, the company converts crude oil and other feedstocks into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and other refined petroleum products.

The company markets fuel and related products under the Phillips 66, 76 and Conoco brands, serving retail, commercial, aviation and industrial customers.