Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,500 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $2,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VLO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 276.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,425,754,000 after buying an additional 7,931,018 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 12.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $5,135,043,000 after buying an additional 4,155,522 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Valero Energy in the first quarter worth about $529,864,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 34.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $647,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,196 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 6.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,437,765 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,510,586,000 after acquiring an additional 736,533 shares during the period. 78.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on VLO shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $151.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $181.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Valero Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.80.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $158.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $153.45 and a 200 day moving average of $137.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.05. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $99.00 and a 12-month high of $178.43.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.62. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 0.62% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 188.33%.

Valero Energy 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.