National Pension Service Has $114.50 Million Stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 880,801 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,657 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Valero Energy were worth $114,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in Valero Energy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 4,981 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Valero Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,005,346 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $142,468,000 after purchasing an additional 55,351 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its position in shares of Valero Energy by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,615 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 2,529 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Valero Energy by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788,994 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $362,569,000 after purchasing an additional 342,218 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Valero Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 645,726 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $83,867,000 after buying an additional 18,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.69% of the company’s stock.

Valero Energy Price Performance

VLO traded up $0.40 on Wednesday, reaching $157.07. The stock had a trading volume of 2,766,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,245,021. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.69 and a 200-day moving average of $142.19. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $105.49 and a fifty-two week high of $184.79. The company has a market capitalization of $51.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and gas company reported $3.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.64. Valero Energy had a net margin of 5.01% and a return on equity of 24.82%. The business had revenue of $31.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $8.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Valero Energy Co. will post 18.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Valero Energy from $154.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $177.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Valero Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $156.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $130.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Valero Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.40.

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.