Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 5,679 Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,679 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the fourth quarter worth $570,428,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 12,883.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,047,360 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $136,157,000 after buying an additional 1,039,293 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 37.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $266,040,000 after buying an additional 426,093 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $310,655,000 after buying an additional 376,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in Valero Energy by 721.4% during 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 buying an additional 296,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Mizuho raised shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.07.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In related news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total transaction of $113,846.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,314 shares in the company, valued at $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Valero Energy Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE VLO traded up $3.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $161.27. 292,010 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,056,613. The stock has a market cap of $52.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.80, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.59. Valero Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $119.88 and a 1-year high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The oil and gas company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm had revenue of $34.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be given a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Valero Energy Company 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.