Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Decreases Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 443,526 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 11,410 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.14% of Valero Energy worth $69,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,319,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $677,007,000 after buying an additional 237,347 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in Valero Energy by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 3,445,821 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $447,957,000 after purchasing an additional 122,207 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,018,107 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $473,118,000 after purchasing an additional 56,989 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,063,923 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $352,292,000 after purchasing an additional 65,632 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 37.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $266,040,000 after purchasing an additional 426,093 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler cut Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $169.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.07.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Valero Energy stock opened at $134.46 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.48. Valero Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $119.88 and a 1 year high of $184.79. The company has a market capitalization of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.40.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 4.25%. The company had revenue of $34.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 12.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.