State of Alaska Department of Revenue Trims Position in Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,197 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 3,165 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $4,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VLO. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,747 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,532,000 after purchasing an additional 7,735 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $528,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 269,043 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $36,165,000 after purchasing an additional 27,291 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 145,810 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $19,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Valero Energy from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Valero Energy from $215.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Argus raised Valero Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.73.

Valero Energy Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $235.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $223.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $190.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $70.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.62. Valero Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $106.25 and a 12-month high of $258.43.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $30.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.20 billion. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 12.35% and a net margin of 1.91%.The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is an increase from Valero Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 5th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.83%.

Insider Activity at Valero Energy

In other news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 8,311 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.69, for a total transaction of $1,892,331.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,618,080.98. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Profile

Valero Energy Corporation is a San Antonio, Texas–based integrated downstream energy company that manufactures and markets transportation fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and other industrial products. The company’s operations focus on refining crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, as well as producing asphalt and other refined product streams for commercial and industrial customers.

In addition to refining, Valero has significant operations in renewable fuels, including the production of ethanol and other biofuels, and it manages an extensive logistics network of pipelines, terminals, rail and marine assets to move feedstocks and finished products.