Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $399.40 and last traded at $398.0460, with a volume of 371747 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $390.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VLO. UBS Group increased their price objective on Valero Energy from $355.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Valero Energy from $232.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Valero Energy from $356.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.76.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.5%

The stock has a market cap of $114.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $327.00 and a 200 day moving average of $271.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $44.48 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 41.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at $5,294,212.14. This trade represents a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 40,516.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 143,816,270 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $37,455,509,000 after purchasing an additional 143,462,183 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,177,191 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,959,065,000 after purchasing an additional 163,975 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,950,982 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,945,500,000 after purchasing an additional 63,919 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the fourth quarter worth $1,111,542,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted 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 worth $922,728,000 after buying an additional 394,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Company Profile

Valero Energy Corporation is an international energy company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Its primary business is refining crude oil into transportation fuels and other products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, lubricants and petrochemical feedstocks.

Valero operates refineries and related facilities in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and markets its products through wholesale and commercial channels in North America and other international markets.