Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

PSX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Phillips 66 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $158.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Phillips 66 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Phillips 66 from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Phillips 66 from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Phillips 66 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.35.

Phillips 66 Stock Down 0.1%

PSX stock opened at $128.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.90. The company has a market cap of $51.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.23. Phillips 66 has a fifty-two week low of $91.01 and a fifty-two week high of $144.96.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and gas company reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.38. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 5.53% and a net margin of 1.12%.The firm had revenue of $33.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.04 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Phillips 66

In other Phillips 66 news, CFO Kevin J. Mitchell sold 30,000 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.00, for a total transaction of $4,140,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 89,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,388,398. This trade represents a 25.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Mandell sold 25,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.04, for a total value of $3,571,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 56,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,959,593.52. This represents a 30.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,093 shares of company stock worth $11,933,256. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Phillips 66

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Phillips 66 by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,724,558 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,035,574,000 after buying an additional 5,356,558 shares during the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Phillips 66 by 22.4% in the second quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 19,251,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,296,644,000 after acquiring an additional 3,526,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Phillips 66 by 17.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,327,304 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,226,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532,967 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Phillips 66 by 6.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,394,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,120,794,000 after acquiring an additional 537,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $523,755,000. 76.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is an independent energy manufacturing and logistics company engaged primarily in refining, midstream transportation, marketing and chemicals. The company processes crude oil into transportation fuels, lubricants and other petroleum products, operates pipeline and storage infrastructure, and participates in petrochemical production through strategic investments. Phillips 66 serves commercial, industrial and retail customers and positions its operations across the value chain of the downstream energy sector.

The company’s principal activities include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and feedstocks for petrochemical production; operating midstream assets such as pipelines, terminals and fractionators that move and store crude oil and natural gas liquids; and marketing and distributing fuels and lubricants through wholesale and retail channels.