PFG Investments LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,163 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,005,346 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $142,468,000 after purchasing an additional 55,351 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 645,726 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,867,000 after acquiring an additional 18,575 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 10.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 83,290 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,803,000 after acquiring an additional 7,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NatWest Group plc acquired a new position in Valero Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $3,325,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VLO. Raymond James lifted their target price on Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $146.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $138.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Valero Energy from $130.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.69.

Valero Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Valero Energy stock opened at $170.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $56.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.53. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $104.18 and a fifty-two week high of $172.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.75.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.95 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $35.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.76 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 31.62% and a net margin of 6.10%. Valero Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 16.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $1.07 dividend. This is a positive change from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is currently 17.31%.

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.