Plato Investment Management Ltd Has $282,000 Stock Position in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,088 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VLO. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,945,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,293,589 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $174,673,000 after acquiring an additional 22,571 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Valero Energy during the second quarter worth about $535,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Valero Energy by 223.1% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 10,796 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 7,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 42,716 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,696,000 after purchasing an additional 8,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLO has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Valero Energy from $145.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler cut Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $169.00 to $123.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Valero Energy from $175.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.86.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO stock opened at $140.16 on Friday. Valero Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.70.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 2.74%. Valero Energy’s revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.49 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 38.39%.

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.