Jones Financial Companies Lllp Grows Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 14.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 164,331 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,188 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $28,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 1.6% in the third quarter. DSG Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,803 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $647,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Cypress Capital Group raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 18,786 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,381 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $576,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 476 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $169.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $181.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on Valero Energy in a research note on Monday, November 10th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Zacks Research lowered Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (up from $181.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valero Energy news, CFO Jason W. Fraser sold 9,933 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.02, for a total transaction of $1,728,540.66. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 134,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,352,787.92. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Price Performance

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $192.71 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $175.73 and a 200 day moving average of $164.44. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $99.00 and a 52 week high of $194.50. The company has a market cap of $58.78 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.55. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business had revenue of $30.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 5th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 5th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.16%.

Valero Energy Company Profile

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.