Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $372,000 Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Verus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,754 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VLO. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 11,318.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,076,349 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $145,339,000 after buying an additional 1,066,923 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Valero Energy by 37.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $266,040,000 after purchasing an additional 426,093 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Valero Energy by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,319,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $677,007,000 after purchasing an additional 237,347 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Valero Energy by 17.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,010 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $238,841,000 after purchasing an additional 232,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,517,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $149.00 to $131.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Valero Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $172.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $146.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.86.

Valero Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

Valero Energy stock opened at $137.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $43.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.39. Valero Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $184.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.49 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.39%.

Valero Energy Company Profile

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol.