Valero Energy Corporation $VLO Shares Sold by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its stake in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 23.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 26,365 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 8,143 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $3,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VLO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 276.9% in the first 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $827,390,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 16.7% in the 2nd 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. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 81.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,413,182 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $186,498,000 after buying an additional 633,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the second quarter valued at about $86,647,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on VLO. Wall Street Zen cut Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Valero Energy from $177.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $181.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $192.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.20.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO opened at $161.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $171.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.09. 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.51. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were paid a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 94.36%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, CFO Jason W. Fraser sold 9,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.02, for a total transaction of $1,728,540.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 134,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,352,787.92. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Profile

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.