Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $245.5882.

VLO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $255.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $203.00 price target on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $184.00 to $261.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $222.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of VLO stock opened at $259.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Valero Energy has a 12 month low of $130.78 and a 12 month high of $265.61.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $1.06. The business had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 15.94%. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Valero Energy will post 27.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.90, for a total value of $1,776,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,242 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,629.80. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Valero Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VLO. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,747 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,532,000 after acquiring an additional 7,735 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Valero Energy by 13.0% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in Valero Energy during the second quarter valued at about $528,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Valero Energy by 11.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 269,043 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,165,000 after buying an additional 27,291 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Valero Energy by 0.9% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 145,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $19,600,000 after buying an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

About Valero Energy

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.