Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) Short Interest Down 14.0% in December

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,370,000 shares, a decrease of 14.0% from the December 15th total of 7,410,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PSX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Phillips 66 from $167.00 to $161.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Phillips 66 from $150.00 to $138.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Phillips 66 from $150.00 to $147.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Phillips 66 from $124.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Phillips 66 from $160.00 to $141.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Phillips 66 during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Phillips 66 during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Phillips 66 during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Phillips 66 in the second quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in Phillips 66 by 33.1% in the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 402 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 76.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Phillips 66 Price Performance

PSX traded up $0.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $119.68. 1,985,881 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,906,478. Phillips 66 has a 12-month low of $108.90 and a 12-month high of $174.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $122.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.95. 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 company has a market cap of $49.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.38.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $36.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.31 billion. Phillips 66 had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 13.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Phillips 66 will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.