Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,644 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VLO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 12,883.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,047,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $136,157,000 after buying an additional 1,039,293 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,429,706 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $202,585,000 after acquiring an additional 694,224 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Valero Energy by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,961,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,269,949,000 after acquiring an additional 517,068 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Valero Energy by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 938,771 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $122,040,000 after purchasing an additional 250,326 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $171.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $130.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.40.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO stock opened at $155.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $162.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.39. Valero Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $104.18 and a 52-week high of $184.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 24.82% and a net margin of 5.01%. The business had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Valero Energy

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.