Valero Energy Corporation $VLO Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC cut its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 22.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,613 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,694 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $1,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,425,754,000 after buying an additional 7,931,018 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Valero Energy by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,881,222 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,135,043,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155,522 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Valero Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $529,864,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 34.1% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,905,145 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $647,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 16.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,141,511 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,089,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VLO shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Valero Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Valero Energy from $216.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Valero Energy from $201.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.00.

Valero Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:VLO opened at $180.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $54.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $168.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.96. Valero Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $99.00 and a twelve month high of $185.62.

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

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.36%.

About Valero Energy

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.