Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,510,000 shares, a decline of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 7,800,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

NYSE:PSX opened at $97.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.21. Phillips 66 has a 52-week low of $91.01 and a 52-week high of $159.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $117.81 and a 200 day moving average of $121.95.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($1.38). Phillips 66 had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 1.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Phillips 66 Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is a positive change from Phillips 66’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.15. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.94%. Phillips 66’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on PSX. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Phillips 66 from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $143.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Phillips 66 from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler downgraded Phillips 66 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Phillips 66 from $140.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Phillips 66 from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Phillips 66 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.00.

Institutional Trading of Phillips 66

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in Phillips 66 by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 220 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pacific Center for Financial Services purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its holdings in Phillips 66 by 83.5% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 244 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Phillips 66 during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Phillips 66 Company 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.