Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,843 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Phillips 66 were worth $324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Phillips 66 by 263.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 83,278 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,753,000 after buying an additional 60,355 shares during the period. Flavin Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth $1,190,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth $3,033,000. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in Phillips 66 during the 4th quarter worth $1,438,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Phillips 66 by 7,549.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 2,500,000 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $328,625,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467,316 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.93% of the company’s stock.

Phillips 66 Trading Down 1.2 %

Phillips 66 stock opened at $127.30 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $119.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.77, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.37. Phillips 66 has a 52-week low of $108.90 and a 52-week high of $174.08.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last posted its 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 net margin of 1.46% and a return on equity of 8.58%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Phillips 66 will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Phillips 66 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. Phillips 66’s payout ratio is 93.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on PSX. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $150.00 to $147.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $124.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $150.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $161.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Phillips 66 from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $143.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.00.

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.