Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Receives $172.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $172.00.

VLO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $167.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Valero Energy from $160.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen reduced 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $184.00 to $179.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 6th.

Valero Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:VLO opened at $156.76 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.47. Valero Energy has a 12 month low of $112.16 and a 12 month high of $184.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.47.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.64. The firm had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.02 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 24.82% and a net margin of 5.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.27 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Valero Energy will post 16.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were issued a $1.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kimberly S. Greene sold 720 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total transaction of $113,846.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,105,209.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valero Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLO. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,961,603 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,269,949,000 after purchasing an additional 517,068 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $570,428,000. Putnam Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 3,445,821 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $447,957,000 after acquiring an additional 122,207 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Valero Energy by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $362,569,000 after acquiring an additional 342,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 2,389,654 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $310,655,000 after acquiring an additional 376,449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

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.