Hilltop National Bank Acquires New Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,036 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $570,428,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Valero Energy by 12,883.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,047,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $136,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039,293 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,389,654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,655,000 after acquiring an additional 376,449 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 721.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 337,911 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $43,927,000 after purchasing an additional 296,771 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valero Energy

In related news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total value of $113,846.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,105,209.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Valero Energy from $176.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $156.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.07.

Valero Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE VLO traded up $1.28 on Friday, reaching $147.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,311,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,732,773. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $155.13 and its 200 day moving average is $151.63. Valero Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $112.67 and a 52-week high of $184.79.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. The company had revenue of $31.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 15.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were given a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 21.20%.

Valero Energy Profile

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol.