Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Stock Price Down 4.9% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Phillips 66 shares fell 4.9% to about $246.87, with trading volume 78% above average, despite the company recently reporting quarterly earnings and revenue above analyst expectations.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus rating, with an average price target of $270.12; recent ratings range from Hold to Strong Buy.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.33 per share and has authorization to repurchase up to $10 billion of stock, or about 11.8% of shares.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX - Get Free Report) fell 4.9% on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $246.57 and last traded at $246.8680. 5,084,233 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 78% from the average session volume of 2,858,109 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PSX. Zacks Research raised Phillips 66 from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Phillips 66 from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Phillips 66 from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $276.00 price objective on shares of Phillips 66 in a report on Sunday, October 11th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Phillips 66 from $295.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Phillips 66 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $270.12.

Phillips 66 Trading Down 4.9%

The stock has a market cap of $96.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.44.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The oil and gas company reported $14.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $11.73 by $2.35. The business had revenue of $50.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.91 billion. Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 33.12% and a net margin of 7.27%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Phillips 66 will post 33.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be paid a $1.33 dividend. This is a boost from Phillips 66's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. Phillips 66's payout ratio is presently 16.22%.

Phillips 66 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, July 31st that authorizes the company to repurchase $10 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the oil and gas company to reacquire up to 11.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Richard Harbison sold 52,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 39,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,747,673.44. This represents 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 this link. Also, EVP Brian Mandell sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.00, for a total transaction of $6,450,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 61,595 shares in the company, valued at $13,242,925. This trade represents a 32.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 108,800 shares of company stock worth $25,016,566 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,766,779,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,044,694 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $4,402,856,000 after purchasing an additional 271,841 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 during the 2nd quarter worth $1,093,206,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 62.0% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,667,451 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $668,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403,493 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 by 1.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,971,036 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $541,263,000 after purchasing an additional 35,167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.93% of the company's stock.

About Phillips 66

Phillips 66 NYSE: PSX is an energy manufacturing and logistics company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was established in 2012 following the separation of ConocoPhillips' downstream and midstream businesses.

Phillips 66 operates across midstream, chemicals, refining and marketing. Its midstream activities include gathering, processing, transporting and storing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Through its refining operations, the company converts crude oil and other feedstocks into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and other refined petroleum products.

The company markets fuel and related products under the Phillips 66, 76 and Conoco brands, serving retail, commercial, aviation and industrial customers.

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