Blair William & Co. IL Sells 766 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 766 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $4,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VLO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,725,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,257,024,000 after purchasing an additional 4,805,133 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,701,232 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,311,864,000 after purchasing an additional 413,963 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 5.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,687,585 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $639,268,000 after purchasing an additional 247,630 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,072,188 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $499,210,000 after purchasing an additional 487,022 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Valero Energy by 4,908.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,850,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $384,907,000 after buying an additional 2,793,607 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $149.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $160.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.67.

Valero Energy Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE VLO opened at $131.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $116.84 and a fifty-two week high of $184.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.40 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $133.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.31.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.50. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 9.58%. Equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 53.30%.

About Valero Energy

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.