Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $278.26 and last traded at $277.4120, with a volume of 395545 shares. The stock had previously closed at $271.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PSX shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Phillips 66 from $183.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Phillips 66 in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Phillips 66 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.00.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $111.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $245.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.00.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The oil and gas company reported $9.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.50 by $1.91. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 19.93% and a net margin of 4.54%.The firm had revenue of $51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Phillips 66 will post 29.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, July 31st that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the oil and gas company to repurchase up to 11.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Phillips 66

In other news, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 52,100 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.76, for a total transaction of $11,657,896.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,747,673.44. The trade was a 57.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Mandell sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $6,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 61,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,242,925. This represents a 32.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 112,886 shares of company stock worth $25,878,894. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PSX. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 3,628 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $926,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 12.5% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Phillips 66 by 22.4% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 55,595 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $9,398,000 after buying an additional 10,186 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 16,403 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,773,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,044,694 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,402,856,000 after acquiring an additional 271,841 shares during the last quarter. 76.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 is an energy manufacturing and logistics company engaged in the processing, transportation, storage and marketing of energy products. Its operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and other refined products, as well as distributing and marketing fuels under the Phillips 66, 76 and JET brands.

The company also operates midstream infrastructure, including pipelines, terminals, processing facilities and storage assets that support the movement of crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products.