Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires 3,802 Shares of Valero Energy Corporation $VLO

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 50,851 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after buying an additional 3,802 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $13,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLO. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in Valero Energy by 40.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Valero Energy by 13.0% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in Valero Energy during the second quarter valued at about $528,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Valero Energy by 11.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 269,043 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $36,165,000 after buying an additional 27,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in shares of Valero Energy by 0.9% in the second 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 buying an additional 1,338 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valero Energy news, SVP Eric A. Fisher sold 7,500 shares of Valero Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.17, for a total transaction of $2,011,275.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 19,742 shares in the company, valued at $5,294,212.14. The trade was a 27.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VLO. Scotiabank upped their price target on Valero Energy from $178.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $350.00 price objective on Valero Energy in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Valero Energy from $286.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Valero Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $289.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Valero Energy Stock Down 0.1%

VLO stock opened at $341.36 on Monday. Valero Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $135.01 and a twelve month high of $346.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $98.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $283.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $248.42.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The oil and gas company reported $12.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.11 by $2.43. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 26.74% and a net margin of 5.17%.The firm had revenue of $44.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Corporation will post 40.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Valero Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Valero Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.92%.

Valero Energy Company 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.