Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PSX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $115.00 target price on Phillips 66 in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Phillips 66 from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Phillips 66 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Phillips 66 from $130.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Phillips 66 from $133.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.50.

Phillips 66 Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:PSX opened at $129.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. Phillips 66 has a twelve month low of $91.01 and a twelve month high of $142.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $130.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.59. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 4.87% and a net margin of 1.27%.The firm had revenue of $33.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Phillips 66’s payout ratio is 115.38%.

Insider Transactions at Phillips 66

In other news, Director Sigmund L. Cornelius purchased 500 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $123.55 per share, for a total transaction of $61,775.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,661,637.65. This trade represents a 2.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vanessa Allen Sutherland sold 4,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $615,020.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,842,180. The trade was a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 9,850 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,910. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Phillips 66

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSX. Elliott Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1,929.0% during the 1st quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 15,725,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,941,723,000 after acquiring an additional 14,950,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,368,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,531,702,000 after acquiring an additional 5,978,841 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at $523,755,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,327,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,226,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,967 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 9,530.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,446,469 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $172,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,450 shares during the period. 76.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.