Valero Energy Corporation $VLO Shares Purchased by Jones Financial Companies Lllp

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 235,150 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,627 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $60,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC boosted its position in Valero Energy by 2,325.2% during the fourth quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 36,378 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,922,000 after acquiring an additional 34,878 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 846.9% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 14,752 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 13,194 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,743,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 192,430 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $47,546,000 after purchasing an additional 7,702 shares during the period. Finally, Dymon Asia Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 4th quarter worth $2,268,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valero Energy

In related news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 19,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,294,212.14. This represents a 27.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Trading Down 0.8%

VLO stock opened at $346.15 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $99.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $294.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $255.29. Valero Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $144.30 and a 52 week high of $353.00.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.11 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $44.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.47 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 26.74% and a net margin of 5.17%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 40.62 EPS for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Valero Energy from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Mizuho increased their target price on Valero Energy from $289.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on Valero Energy from $259.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research upgraded Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $279.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

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.