Swiss National Bank Purchases 60,000 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 952,900 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.31% of Valero Energy worth $128,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 276.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,425,754,000 after purchasing an additional 7,931,018 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 12.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,135,043,000 after purchasing an additional 4,155,522 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the first quarter worth $529,864,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 34.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $647,823,000 after buying an additional 1,247,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,089,897,000 after buying an additional 1,164,217 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VLO shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $166.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $201.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up previously from $181.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Valero Energy from $169.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.00.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $173.46 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.71. The stock has a market cap of $52.91 billion, a PE ratio of 36.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $99.00 and a 12 month high of $185.62.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.80 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 1.21%.The company’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.36%.

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.