ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Position in Phillips 66 $PSX

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 6.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 285,629 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,573 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.07% of Phillips 66 worth $34,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. WealthTrust Axiom LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 1.1% in the first quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 7,241 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 62.1% in the second quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 214 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 2.8% in the second quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 3,083 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 2.4% in the second quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 0.5% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 17,541 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,093,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PSX. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Phillips 66 from $130.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Phillips 66 in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Argus raised Phillips 66 to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Phillips 66 from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Phillips 66 from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.19.

Insider Transactions at Phillips 66

In other news, Director Michael A. Heim purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $125.97 per share, with a total value of $125,970.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 12,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,517,056.71. This represents a 9.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory Hayes purchased 8,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $119.90 per share, with a total value of $1,001,165.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 29,423 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,527,817.70. The trade was a 39.62% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 9,850 shares of company stock valued at $1,188,910 and sold 13,179 shares valued at $1,779,165. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

Shares of Phillips 66 stock opened at $133.14 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $128.89 and a 200 day moving average of $120.49. Phillips 66 has a 12 month low of $91.01 and a 12 month high of $142.35. The firm has a market cap of $53.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Phillips 66 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.38%.

Phillips 66 Company Profile

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.