ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 12,288 Shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX - Free Report) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 269,056 shares of the oil and gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,288 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.07% of Phillips 66 worth $33,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PSX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Phillips 66 by 283.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,026,649 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $686,618,000 after purchasing an additional 4,455,220 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth about $497,648,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth about $168,790,000. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth about $142,185,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Phillips 66 by 14,119.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,189,606 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $146,893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,240 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PSX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Phillips 66 from $144.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Tudor Pickering cut Phillips 66 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Phillips 66 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Phillips 66 in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Phillips 66 from $140.00 to $122.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $133.93.

Insider Activity at Phillips 66

In related news, Director Robert W. Pease purchased 439 shares of Phillips 66 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $113.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,980.15. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,091 shares in the company, valued at $465,760.35. The trade was a 12.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Mandell sold 9,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.00, for a total value of $1,225,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,104,750. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PSX traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $126.80. 1,290,860 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,104,736. The company has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Phillips 66 has a 52-week low of $91.01 and a 52-week high of $150.12. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $116.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.90.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported ($0.90) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.97). Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 4.83% and a net margin of 1.32%. The company had revenue of $31.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. This is a positive change from Phillips 66's previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Phillips 66's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.34%.

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.