Americana Partners LLC Purchases 89 Shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Americana Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,883 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VLO. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,956,743 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,090,532,000 after purchasing an additional 192,397 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,319,436 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $677,007,000 after buying an additional 237,347 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Valero Energy by 1.9% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,018,107 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $473,118,000 after acquiring an additional 56,989 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Valero Energy by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,809,355 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $440,394,000 after acquiring an additional 82,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 3.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,063,923 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $352,292,000 after acquiring an additional 65,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VLO. StockNews.com cut shares of Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $175.00 to $171.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Valero Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $172.00 to $165.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.29.

Valero Energy Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:VLO opened at $128.22 on Friday. Valero Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $119.88 and a 52 week high of $184.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $136.69 and its 200-day moving average is $148.42. The firm has a market cap of $41.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.39.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued 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 business had revenue of $32.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.04 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 13.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $1.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is currently 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.