Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Purchases New Shares in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 4,432 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Valero Energy by 35.7% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,308 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 1,658 shares during the period. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 438 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. DMC Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 71,216 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $10,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VLO. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays cut their target price on Valero Energy from $179.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.40.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

VLO stock traded up $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $157.07. The company had a trading volume of 2,766,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,244,989. The stock has a market cap of $51.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.19. Valero Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $105.49 and a 12-month high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 24.82% and a net margin of 5.01%. The company’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.02 earnings per share 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.