Lido Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Lido Advisors LLC decreased its position in Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 27.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 85,463 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 32,601 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $21,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VLO. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP acquired a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the first quarter worth $278,000. Arvest Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division now owns 1,430 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 83.1% during the 1st quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 6,509 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Valero Energy by 138.4% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 216,034 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $53,378,000 after buying an additional 125,428 shares during the period. Finally, Marin Bay Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Valero Energy by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Marin Bay Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,453 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $853,000 after buying an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total value 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 $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Trading Down 2.0%

VLO opened at $304.63 on Friday. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $130.78 and a 12-month high of $320.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $264.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $233.91.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The oil and gas company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $1.06. The company had revenue of $32.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.38 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Valero Energy Corporation will post 32.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors 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 yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research lowered Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut Valero Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Valero Energy from $259.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $266.71.

More Valero Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting Valero Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs raised its price target on Valero Energy (VLO) from $286 to $357 and kept a Buy rating, signaling meaningful upside versus the current share price.
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler reaffirmed an Overweight rating and lifted its target to $329, also pointing to additional upside for the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles highlighted Valero as a strong momentum stock and a favorable pick versus Cenovus, which may be helping investor sentiment ahead of next week’s earnings report. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts expect earnings growth in Valero’s upcoming report, but one preview noted the setup does not look ideal for a likely earnings beat, suggesting expectations are already fairly balanced. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader energy-market headlines, including refinery and crude-flow shifts, may affect VLO’s operating backdrop, but they do not directly change Valero’s outlook on their own.

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.