Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Holdings in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its position in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,012 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 416 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Phillips 66 were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PSX. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Phillips 66 by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 201,592 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $26,501,000 after acquiring an additional 22,278 shares during the last quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 in the fourth quarter worth about $10,402,000. Choate Investment Advisors bought a new position in Phillips 66 during the third quarter valued at approximately $247,000. First Dallas Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Phillips 66 during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $753,000. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association increased its stake in Phillips 66 by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 14,816 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,670 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Phillips 66 Stock Performance

NYSE PSX opened at $146.94 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.78. Phillips 66 has a 1-year low of $89.74 and a 1-year high of $174.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market cap of $62.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.41.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.15). Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 3.84%. The business had revenue of $36.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Phillips 66 will post 13.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. This is a positive change from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. Phillips 66’s payout ratio is 32.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Phillips 66

In other news, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 21,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.27, for a total transaction of $3,208,286.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,648,120.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Richard G. Harbison sold 21,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.27, for a total value of $3,208,286.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,648,120.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert W. Pease acquired 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $146.58 per share, with a total value of $99,967.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $278,502. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,056 shares of company stock worth $5,272,681 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PSX. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Phillips 66 from $148.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Phillips 66 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Phillips 66 from $149.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Phillips 66 from $167.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $157.43.

Phillips 66 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.