California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 872,957 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 31,282 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.20% of Phillips 66 worth $116,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 4.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,760,709 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $932,447,000 after purchasing an additional 309,239 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 2.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,768,960 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $813,291,000 after purchasing an additional 138,646 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 6.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,881,094 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $586,463,000 after purchasing an additional 283,010 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 12.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,570,590 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $549,156,000 after purchasing an additional 502,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Phillips 66 by 21.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,946,809 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $233,909,000 after buying an additional 350,211 shares during the last quarter. 76.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Phillips 66 news, VP Joseph Scott Pruitt sold 7,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total transaction of $1,132,272.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,242.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robert W. Pease purchased 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $146.58 per share, for a total transaction of $99,967.56. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,900 shares in the company, valued at $278,502. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Joseph Scott Pruitt sold 7,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total value of $1,132,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,242.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,056 shares of company stock worth $5,272,681 in the last quarter. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on PSX. Citigroup began coverage on Phillips 66 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Phillips 66 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Phillips 66 from $139.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Phillips 66 from $148.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Phillips 66 from $169.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.00.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

PSX opened at $158.90 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $154.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.31. Phillips 66 has a 12-month low of $89.74 and a 12-month high of $174.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $67.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.37.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.72. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 22.10% and a net margin of 4.68%. The firm had revenue of $38.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.30 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Phillips 66 will post 13.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is an increase from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio is 27.15%.

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.