Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Raymond James Financial raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $290.00. Raymond James Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Valero Energy traded as high as $247.87 and last traded at $247.3390, with a volume of 1595617 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $234.54.

VLO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $195.00 target price (down from $198.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Valero Energy from $203.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 8,311 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.69, for a total transaction of $1,892,331.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,618,080.98. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Valero Energy News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Valero Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James raised its price target on VLO to $290 and kept a “Strong Buy” rating, a high-profile upgrade that boosts investor expectations for upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank reaffirmed a Buy rating on Valero, providing additional sell-side support and validation for the recent bullish analyst trend. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Macro/sector tailwinds: energy stocks are rallying as oil prices climbed above $100/bbl amid heightened Middle East tensions, benefiting refiners like Valero through wider crack spreads and stronger refining margins. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Research update: Erste Group raised its FY2027 EPS estimate for Valero, signaling expectations for stronger future earnings versus prior forecasts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks/Yahoo pieces note VLO is a “trending” stock and summarize factors investors should watch (analyst views, macro, refinery outages), useful background but not new catalytic news. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valero has begun preparations to restart its 380,000 bpd Port Arthur refinery after the shutdown, which limits prolonged supply disruption risk if the restart proceeds smoothly. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Operational incident: filings show a fluid release ignited the explosion and fire at the Port Arthur refinery, highlighting safety and operational risk that could mean repair costs, lost throughput and temporary margin pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Litigation: a worker injured in the Port Arthur blast filed a lawsuit seeking >$1M, creating potential legal/PR headwinds (currently limited in scale but worth monitoring). Article Title

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 104,198 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,963,000 after purchasing an additional 7,580 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Valero Energy by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514 shares in the last quarter. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Valero Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $314,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Valero Energy by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 235,035 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $38,264,000 after purchasing an additional 12,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Valero Energy by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 685,506 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $111,543,000 after purchasing an additional 158,470 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valero Energy Trading Up 5.6%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $207.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.00. The firm has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.64.

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

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 5th. This is an increase from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.