Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,393 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 129,648 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $27,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VLO. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 11,318.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,076,349 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $145,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066,923 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 37.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558,750 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $266,040,000 after acquiring an additional 426,093 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 5.8% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 237,347 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Valero Energy by 17.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,550,010 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $238,841,000 after purchasing an additional 232,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Valero Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,517,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VLO shares. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Valero Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $169.00 to $123.00 in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $173.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $172.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Valero Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Valero Energy from $192.00 to $176.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Valero Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.29.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO stock opened at $129.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $136.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.06. Valero Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $119.88 and a 1 year high of $184.79. The stock has a market cap of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The oil and gas company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 2.74%. The firm had revenue of $32.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.49 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Valero Energy Co. will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valero Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. 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 3.29%. Valero Energy’s payout ratio is 38.39%.

Valero Energy 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.