River Street Advisors LLC Increases Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

River Street Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,323 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Valero Energy by 9.0% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 176,431 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $23,823,000 after purchasing an additional 14,616 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Valero Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Valero Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 19,543 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,639,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 5.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 59,216 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,996,000 after purchasing an additional 2,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 156.3% during the third quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 8,477 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,145,000 after purchasing an additional 5,169 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 NYSE VLO traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $140.16. The stock had a trading volume of 2,258,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,506,892. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $135.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.51. The company has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.39. Valero Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $184.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The business had revenue of $32.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VLO. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Valero Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $172.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $123.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.86.

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.