Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Posted by on Jun 9th, 2022

Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO – Get Rating) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $119.64.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLO. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $111.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 17th. Citigroup upped their price target on Valero Energy from $94.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 26th. Cowen upped their price target on Valero Energy from $106.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 8th.

In related news, COO R. Lane Riggs sold 17,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.53, for a total value of $2,336,893.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 254,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,527,654.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,955,666 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,869,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,939 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 37,549,543 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,820,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,457 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,640,713 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,908,178,000 after acquiring an additional 245,612 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,499 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $575,161,000 after acquiring an additional 428,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Valero Energy by 20.4% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,642,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $776,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296,547 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.56% of the company’s stock.

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $143.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $58.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Valero Energy has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $146.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $117.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.09.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 26th. The oil and gas company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $38.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.23 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 1.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.73) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Valero Energy will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 11th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.33%.

Valero Energy Company Profile (Get Rating)

Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. It produces conventional, premium, and reformulated gasolines; gasoline meeting the specifications of the California Air Resources Board (CARB); diesel fuels, and low-sulfur and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuels; CARB diesel; other distillates; jet fuels; blendstocks; and asphalts, petrochemicals, lubricants, and other refined petroleum products, as well as sells lube oils and natural gas liquids.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO)

Want More Great Investing Ideas?

Receive News & Ratings for Valero Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valero Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.