Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 1.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 129,274 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,355 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $17,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 736,533 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,247,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter worth about $529,864,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Valero Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Bank of America raised Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.27.

Valero Energy Trading Down 1.3%

VLO opened at $170.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $53.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $158.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.88. Valero Energy Corporation has a one year low of $99.00 and a one year high of $178.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.80 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 1.21%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current year.

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.