Phillips 66 $PSX Stake Lessened by Torray Investment Partners LLC

Torray Investment Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 9.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 106,820 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 10,975 shares during the period. Phillips 66 accounts for about 3.6% of Torray Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Torray Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Phillips 66 were worth $27,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PSX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Phillips 66 in the second quarter worth approximately $5,766,779,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Phillips 66 by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,044,694 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $4,402,856,000 after purchasing an additional 271,841 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,093,206,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,667,451 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $668,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403,493 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,971,036 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $541,263,000 after purchasing an additional 35,167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Brian Mandell sold 23,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.06, for a total value of $6,202,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 61,595 shares in the company, valued at $16,326,370.70. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 52,100 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $8,747,673.44. This represents a 57.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 108,800 shares of company stock worth $25,016,566 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Phillips 66

Here are the key news stories impacting Phillips 66 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Morgan Stanley issued a Buy rating and raised its price target to $290, implying about 6.7% upside from the cited $271.86 share price. Morgan Stanley Issues a Buy Rating on Phillips 66 (PSX)
• Positive Sentiment: Refining momentum: Zacks included PSX among energy stocks showing momentum after October’s rally, pointing to strong quarterly earnings, favorable refining conditions and improving growth prospects. Buy 3 Energy Stocks as November Momentum Builds Up Post Choppy October
• Positive Sentiment: Renewable-fuels opportunity: Phillips 66’s long-term agreement with Restaurant Technologies will supply traceable used cooking oil for renewable fuel production in California, supporting feedstock availability for sustainable aviation fuel. The longer-term commercial potential may help diversify growth, though the articles provide no financial impact estimate. From Fryer to Flyer: Converting Used Cooking Oil into Sustainable Aviation Fuel
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical signal: Zacks noted PSX moved above its 20-day moving average, a short-term bullish indicator, but this chart signal does not establish a change in the company’s fundamentals. Phillips 66 (PSX) Just Flashed Golden Cross Signal: Do You Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: More cautious rating: Freedom Broker upgraded PSX from Sell to Hold and lifted its target to $258, which remains below the cited share price and signals limited near-term upside in its view. Freedom Broker recommendations

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on PSX shares. Mizuho downgraded Phillips 66 from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Phillips 66 in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $276.00 target price on shares of Phillips 66 in a report on Sunday, October 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Phillips 66 from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Phillips 66 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.82.

Phillips 66 Trading Down 1.2%

Phillips 66 stock opened at $271.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $106.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 0.69. Phillips 66 has a 1 year low of $127.16 and a 1 year high of $299.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $267.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported $14.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.73 by $2.35. The company had revenue of $50.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.91 billion. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 33.12% and a net margin of 7.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Phillips 66 will post 33.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to repurchase $10 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 11.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $1.33 per share. This represents a $5.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. Phillips 66’s payout ratio is presently 16.22%.

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.