Moors & Cabot Inc. Sells 1,435 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Moors & Cabot Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,120 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 1,435 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 4,155,522 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 6.9% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 736,533 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 276.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,795,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,425,754,000 after buying an additional 7,931,018 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Valero Energy by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $647,823,000 after buying an additional 1,247,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Valero Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $529,864,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VLO. Mizuho raised their price objective on Valero Energy from $166.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $183.00 price target on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $200.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $152.00 to $179.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.27.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO opened at $176.28 on Friday. Valero Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $99.00 and a 1 year high of $179.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $53.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $163.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.65.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The oil and gas company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.51. Valero Energy had a net margin of 1.21% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company had revenue of $32.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.36%.

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.