38,900 Shares in Valvoline Inc. (NYSE:VVV) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Valvoline Inc. (NYSE:VVV) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 38,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,462,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Valvoline by 2.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,946,126 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,100,000 after purchasing an additional 115,558 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Valvoline by 29.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,040,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $130,257,000 after purchasing an additional 911,073 shares during the last quarter. Alua Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Valvoline by 24.7% in the third quarter. Alua Capital Management LP now owns 2,935,539 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $94,642,000 after purchasing an additional 582,400 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of Valvoline by 11.1% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,767,848 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $89,235,000 after purchasing an additional 276,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scharf Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Valvoline by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,655,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $99,792,000 after purchasing an additional 218,508 shares during the last quarter. 96.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on VVV. Mizuho initiated coverage on Valvoline in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded Valvoline from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Valvoline from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Valvoline from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valvoline presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.75.

Valvoline Price Performance

NYSE VVV opened at $41.19 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.02, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.14. Valvoline Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.15 and a fifty-two week high of $45.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.34 billion, a PE ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.44.

Valvoline (NYSE:VVV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.29. Valvoline had a return on equity of 41.83% and a net margin of 92.04%. The firm had revenue of $373.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $380.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Valvoline Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valvoline Profile

Valvoline Inc engages in the operation and franchising of vehicle service centers and retail stores in the United States and Canada. The company, through its service centers, provides fluid exchange for motor oil, transmission and differential fluid, and coolant; parts replacement for batteries, filters, wiper blades, and belts; and safety services, such as tire inflation and rotation, bulbs, and safety checks.