Convergence Investment Partners LLC Grows Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Convergence Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 28,465 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,280 shares during the quarter. Valero Energy makes up 1.2% of Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $7,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,177,191 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,959,065,000 after acquiring an additional 163,975 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Valero Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,950,982 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,945,500,000 after acquiring an additional 63,919 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Valero Energy during the 4th quarter worth $1,111,542,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Valero Energy by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,668,210 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $922,728,000 after acquiring an additional 394,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Valero Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,285,161 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $534,791,000 after acquiring an additional 17,336 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $203.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Valero Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Valero Energy from $259.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.06.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.3%

VLO stock opened at $313.68 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $260.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.14 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $130.78 and a 12 month high of $316.57.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. The company had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.Valero Energy’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 32.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total value of $2,011,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 19,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Valero Energy 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.