33,065 Shares in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO Purchased by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 33,065 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,630,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GFG Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 70.2% in the 3rd quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy by 1,277.8% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 248 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $181.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Valero Energy from $135.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $195.00 target price (down previously from $198.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $216.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $183.20.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $162.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $171.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.61. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $99.00 and a 52 week high of $185.62. The stock has a market cap of $49.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.76.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.51. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jason W. Fraser sold 9,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.02, for a total value of $1,728,540.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 134,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,352,787.92. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Valero Energy

Valero Energy Corporation is a San Antonio, Texas–based integrated downstream energy company that manufactures and markets transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other industrial products. The company’s operations focus on refining crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as producing asphalt and other refined product streams for commercial and industrial customers.

In addition to refining, Valero has significant operations in renewable fuels, including the production of ethanol and other biofuels, and it manages an extensive logistics network of pipelines, terminals, rail and marine assets to move feedstocks and finished products.