Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $174.50.

A number of brokerages recently commented on VLO. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $187.00 to $169.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho raised Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valero Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 198.8% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,605 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,159,000 after purchasing an additional 11,047 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 214.4% during the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,475 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after buying an additional 9,871 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $15,945,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 13,586 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,766,000 after buying an additional 5,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bollard Group LLC raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 58,968 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $7,666,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of VLO opened at $134.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $146.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.48. Valero Energy has a twelve month low of $119.88 and a twelve month high of $184.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.65, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.40.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $34.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 4.25%. Valero Energy’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Valero Energy will post 12.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.20%.

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.