Stephens Inc. AR Raises Stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,632 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 1,828 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $7,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,956,743 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,090,532,000 after buying an additional 192,397 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,319,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $677,007,000 after purchasing an additional 237,347 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 1.9% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,018,107 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $473,118,000 after purchasing an additional 56,989 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,809,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $440,394,000 after purchasing an additional 82,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,063,923 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $352,292,000 after purchasing an additional 65,632 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on VLO shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.29.

Valero Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $128.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.39. Valero Energy Co. has a one year low of $119.88 and a one year high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $148.56.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 2.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 38.39%.

Valero Energy Profile

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol.