Phillips 66 Stock (PSX) Sinks as Activist Investor Snags Board Seats

Phillips 66 (PSX) stock fell on Wednesday after the activist investor Elliott Management scooped up two seats on the oil company’s Board of Directors. The investment firm announced the news to its clients, based on the preliminary results of the Phillips 66 annual shareholder meeting today.

Sigmund Cornelius and Michael Heim are the two Elliott Management nominees who will be added to the Board. The activist investor said it is “confident Sig and Mike will work collaboratively with the incumbent directors” to make changes that will “set a strategic course that can unlock Phillips 66’s full value-creation potential.”

Phillips 66 and Elliott Management have taken part in a proxy battle over the last year as the latter pushes for changes at the oil company. That resulted in it nominating Robert Pease to the Board last year. However, the activist investor quickly turned on Pease after he sided with Phillips 66’s management team following his appointment. This led to the the firm’s push for the new Board members elected today.

PSX Stock Movement Today

Despite the Elliott Management-nominated Board members being added through a shareholder vote, PSX stock fell sharply on Wednesday. The stock dropped 6.31% this morning, eating away at the company’s 1.37% year-to-date gain. Investors will also note that PSX stock is down 15.4% over the past year. Trading activity has also heated up, with 2.6 million shares traded, quickly approaching the stock’s three-month daily average of 3.61 million shares.

Is PSX Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Phillips 66 is Moderate Buy, based on eight Buy and seven Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average PSX stock price target of $131.54, representing a potential 16.16% upside for the shares.

See more PSX stock analyst ratings