Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 21.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,021 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 23,883 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $22,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLO. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 17.4% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 160,794 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,377,000 after buying an additional 23,859 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 15.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 161,957 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $21,770,000 after buying an additional 21,997 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Valero Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $4,534,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 104,859 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $17,853,000 after acquiring an additional 8,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,669,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus upgraded Valero Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $203.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.53.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In related news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 8,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,618,080.98. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Trading Up 5.6%

Shares of VLO stock opened at $247.78 on Friday. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $99.00 and a 52-week high of $249.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.09 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.00.

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. 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 the consensus estimate of $28.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a boost 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 presently 62.83%.

Key Headlines Impacting Valero Energy

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

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.