Warren Buffett Boosts Exposure to Phillips 66 (PSX) but Hedge Funds Still Cautious

Another area of focus for Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) is its chemicals segment, which gained $295 million in earnings, up by 45% on the quarter. Phillips 66 has been planning to expand this segment as well. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem), the company’s 50-50 joint venture with Chevron, started operations on its normal olefins expansion project at Cedar Bayou facility in June, while the U.S. Gulf Coast petrochemicals project is also about 50% completed with operations expected to start in mid 2017.

Despite the fact that some of the big guns in the hedge fund industry took a bullish stance towards Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) in the second quarter, generally money managers have fled the scene. Among over 700 hedge funds that we track, only 35 had a total investment of $2.80 billion in the company at the end of June, as compared to 41 funds with $3.41 billion a quarter earlier.

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