Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Cuts Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lowered its position in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 51.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 7,421 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,143,672 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $705,502,000 after purchasing an additional 209,597 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 42,376 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,898,000 after buying an additional 10,634 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $954,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 359.0% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 14,243 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,319,000 after buying an additional 11,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the third quarter worth about $3,249,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.90, for a total transaction of $1,776,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 27,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,453,629.80. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $259.05 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.36. The company has a market capitalization of $76.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 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 1 year low of $130.78 and a 1 year high of $265.61.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $1.06. The firm had revenue of $32.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Valero Energy Corporation will post 27.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 34.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VLO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $203.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Valero Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.59.

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.