Valero Energy Corporation $VLO Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 26.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,136,695 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 414,598 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.37% of Valero Energy worth $193,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Becker Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Valero Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,837 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,015,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,741 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Valero Energy by 12.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,515 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 19.3% in the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $661,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. Finally, Strategies Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the third quarter valued at $431,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VLO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Monday, November 10th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Argus raised Valero Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.67.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.2%

VLO opened at $217.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $66.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.34. Valero Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $99.00 and a twelve month high of $221.95.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.55. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 12.35%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 5th. This is a boost from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.83%.

Valero Energy 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.