Peterson Financial Group Inc. Takes $28,000 Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 208 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the second quarter valued at $15,945,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,293,589 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $174,673,000 after purchasing an additional 22,571 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $535,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 223.1% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 7,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Valero Energy by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 42,716 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,696,000 after buying an additional 8,198 shares during the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLO has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Valero Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $172.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $169.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.86.

Valero Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $140.16 on Friday. Valero Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $135.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $146.42.

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

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

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

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.