HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,631 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 38,296 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $40,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 0.6% in the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 6,670 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. now owns 916 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 975 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 206 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $292.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $203.00 price target on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Valero Energy Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:VLO opened at $341.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $283.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.97. The stock has a market cap of $98.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.55. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $135.01 and a 52-week high of $346.09.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.11 by $2.43. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 26.74% and a net margin of 5.17%.The business had revenue of $44.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 48.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 40.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.