Crescent Grove Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Crescent Grove Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,613 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VLO. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Valero Energy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,177,191 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,959,065,000 after purchasing an additional 163,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,950,982 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,945,500,000 after purchasing an additional 63,919 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,111,542,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,668,210 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $922,728,000 after buying an additional 394,693 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,033,310 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,243,630,000 after buying an additional 516,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $259.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $286.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Valero Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Valero Energy from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

NYSE VLO opened at $345.99 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.90. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $137.88 and a 12-month high of $351.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $99.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.55.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.11 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $44.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.47 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.17% and a return on equity of 26.74%. The business’s revenue was up 48.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 40.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.92%.

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.