Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Increases Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 4.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 192,430 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,702 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $47,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLO. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,747 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,532,000 after buying an additional 7,735 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $528,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 269,043 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $36,165,000 after acquiring an additional 27,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 145,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares in the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.90, for a total transaction of $1,776,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,242 shares in the company, valued at $6,453,629.80. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their position. 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 company insiders.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $259.05 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $246.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.36. The stock has a market cap of $76.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $130.78 and a 52-week high of $265.61.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 3.37%.The company had revenue of $32.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 27.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VLO shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $236.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.59.

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.