Blair William & Co. IL Acquires 4,047 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,834 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 4,047 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $7,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,724,707 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,576,035,000 after purchasing an additional 286,942 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 16.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,141,511 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,089,897,000 after buying an additional 1,164,217 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Valero Energy in the second quarter worth about $827,390,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.0% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,024,322 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $675,369,000 after buying an additional 148,195 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,143,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $705,502,000 after acquiring an additional 209,597 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLO has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research lowered Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Valero Energy from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.67.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO opened at $216.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $193.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $64.88 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.70. Valero Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $99.00 and a 1 year high of $232.99.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $30.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.20 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 12.35%. Valero Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 5th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 5th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 62.83%.

Valero Energy Company Profile

Valero Energy Corporation is a San Antonio, Texas–based integrated downstream energy company that manufactures and markets transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other industrial products. The company’s operations focus on refining crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as producing asphalt and other refined product streams for commercial and industrial customers.

In addition to refining, Valero has significant operations in renewable fuels, including the production of ethanol and other biofuels, and it manages an extensive logistics network of pipelines, terminals, rail and marine assets to move feedstocks and finished products.