Phillips 66 Rewards Shareholders With Stock Buyback Program

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) announced an authorization by the board of directors for a new share repurchase program. With this move, the company has been permitted to repurchase up to $3 billion of common stock.

Following the latest approval, its share repurchase program authorized since 2012 aggregates $15 billion. Thus, Phillips 66 has been strongly committed in returning cash to its shareholders through both dividend payments and stock repurchases. The company stated that it has returned more than $24 billion of capital to its shareholders since 2012.

Phillips 66 has also revealed long-term capital allocation program. The company is planning to allocate roughly 60% of its operating cash flow for business investments. The remaining 40% is likely to be returned to its shareholders via share buybacks and dividend payments. This reflects the company’s overall strong operations and competitive strength in all the business segments that include midstream, chemicals and refining.

Investors should note that the company will be repurchasing shares over time, at its discretion, in the open market. Phillips 66 also stated that its board has approved a quarterly dividend of 90 cents per share. The dividend is expected to be paid on Dec 2, to its shareholders of record as of Nov 18.

Currently, Phillips 66 — which is headquartered in Houston, TX — carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Meanwhile, some better-ranked stocks in the energy space are Matrix Service Company (NASDAQ:MTRX) , Shell (LON:RDSa) Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:SHLX) and Dril-Quip Inc (NYSE:DRQ) . While Matrix Service and Shell Midstream sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Dril-Quip carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Matrix Service has managed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters.

Shell Midstream posted an average positive earnings surprise of 3.8% in the last four quarters.

Dril-Quip beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, with the average positive earnings surprise being 49%.

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